The Class 1A/3A Region 7 forecast for East Marion, Columbia and West Marion has become a lot clearer over the past two weeks since district play began.
East Marion (13-1, 4-0) has raced out to the front of the pack, while Columbia (6-12, 2-2) and West Marion (5-7, 2-2) are both jockeying for position with Salem (6-7, 3-1) for second place in the district. The top two teams in the district make the playoffs so both Columbia and West Marion would have to overtake Salem for the second spot in the Region 7 standings.
East Marion
The Eagles continued their dominance and increased their winning streak to 12 with wins over West Marion and Amite County last week.
In a home match against the Trojans Sept. 12, the Eagles won 3-1 (25-8, 25-13, 24-26 and 25-12) with their serving and attacking taking center stage. Tytianna Porter (14) and Brittany Dearman (7) continuously dominated around the net to pace the Eagles in kills. But the Eagles serving was even more impressive as they collected 28 aces, led by Hope Cook’s eight and Porter’s eight.
Last Thursday’s home match against Amite County was more of the same as the Eagles swept the Trojans 25-5, 25-6 and
25-20. However, East Marion’s attacking wasn’t the story, but its serving was otherworldly. The Eagles served 37 aces, led by Azariyah Magee with 12 and Porter with eight.
The Eagles were on the road Tuesday night against Tylertown, but results were not available at press time. They will return home Thursday with a crucial match with Columbia at 6 p.m.
Columbia
Columbia similarly made quick work of Amite County Sept. 12 at home, sweeping the Trojans 25-6, 25-6 and 25-17 with 30 aces standing out as the difference.
Paced by Sadie Willis’ eight kills and Abby Morris’ 15 aces, the Wildcats offense could do no wrong. Trena Tran was all over the place in an impressive performance, leading the team with 19 assists and eight digs to go along with six kills.
In a match that was closer than the 3-1 final indicated, the Wildcats hung with Salem throughout (15-25, 25-22,
20-25 and 21-25), but couldn’t make enough plays to pick up the road win last Thursday.
Lauren Hill led the Wildcats with seven kills, followed by Morris and Tran with six each. What was a strength for the Wildcats two days prior, they just couldn’t pick up easy points serving the ball as they only had six aces as a team.
The Wildcats were on the road Tuesday night against West Marion (results were not available at press time) before their crucial match with East Marion Thursday.
West Marion
Following their Sept. 12 loss on the road to East Marion, the Trojans got back on track last Thursday with a 3-0 road sweep over Tylertown (25-22, 25-15 and 25-14).
Stats were unavailable for either of the Trojans two matches last week, as well as the results of their Tuesday night match against Columbia.
West Marion will play another key game on the road Thursday night against Salem before hosting Amite County next Tuesday.
Tuesday’s match between the Trojans and Wildcats could go a long way in determining which of the two Marion County volleyball teams competes with Salem for the second automatic Region 7 playoff berth.
Pictured Above: Paris Andrews sets up the Trojans offense. | Photo by Joshua Campbell
