Flyers hold off feisty Bulldogs

CELINA - A pattern developed trend in all three sets of Tuesday's Marion Local-Celina non-conference volleyball match at the Celina Intermediate School.

The two teams played level through the early part of each set, only to have the Flyers find an opening and take a lead from which the Bulldogs could not recover in winning the match in three sets of 25-18, 25-22, 25-17.

"We knew going in Celina was a competitive team with strong hitters," Marion coach Erica Fullenkamp said. "I told (the team) we had to get the points when we can and build the lead when we had the opportunity because (Celina) had the potential to come back."

In the first set, the teams were tied at 8-8 when Jesse Kramer tallied a kill to give the Flyers the lead and the serve. Lexi Arling served up four straight points to make it 13-8 before the Bulldogs could halt the run. Marion pushed the lead up and fended off Celina's attempts to get back into the set.

"Our level of consistency isn't quite there yet," Celina coach Amy Sutter said. "We're so close to a breakthrough because we've been fighting really hard, practicing defense and talking about communication. Sometimes when we get in a slump where 1-2 mistakes happen, we're not mentally digging ourselves out quick enough. You can't have even those small lapses against quality teams like Marion Local or St. Henry."

The same formula came in the second set. Celina held a 7-5 lead early before the Flyers got the serve back at 7-6 and Arling rattled off four straight points to put Marion up 10-7. After a Celina point, Kramer served up another two points to make it 16-8.

The Bulldogs did not back away. Thanks to strong hitting from Alyssa Hoyng and Cami Dzendzel, Celina came back to tie the set at 16-all and later at 18-, 19- and 20-all before Arling served up three straight points to make it 23-20 and allowed the Flyers to make it a 2-0 match lead.

"I told girls at whatever point of the game, whatever the score, we have to stay urgent," Fullenkamp said. "If we get relaxed, we knew Celina would get back into the game. I kept saying 'urgent' and that's what helped us get back into the game."

"We're better at shutting that (long runs by opponents) down," Sutter said. "Against Anna, we were flat and let 7-8 points go by. We're better at shutting it down sooner. Now we have to raise the bar before it gets to two points or three points and hold on to the serve."

In the final set, Hoyng's block made it 6-6 before the Flyers took control to push the lead to 13-7. Celina again tried to make its runs, only to have the Flyers come back and stay ahead to close out the match.

Makenzie Albers led Marion with 14 kills. Kramer added eight kills and six digs and Emily Mescher had seven kills and five block assists. Tyla Bergman had 30 assists.

Hoyng had 14 kills and four blocks for Celina. Paige Sutter added four blocks, 14 digs and 24 assists.

Both teams return to conference play Thursday. Marion Local returns to the Hangar to face Fort Recovery in MAC play and Celina hosts Bath in a WBL matchup.