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Marion Local's Chloe Ronnebaum (2) tries to hit the ball over the net as Celina's Olivia Uhlenkamp attempts the block during Monday's volleyball match at the Hangar.
MARIA STEIN - A decent serve is as good as a kill in volleyball.
And Marion Local had plenty of good serves on Monday night, using long service runs to pull away and pick up the 25-17, 25-14, 25-7 win over the Bulldogs at the Hangar to improve to 5-0 on the season. Celina drops to 1-3.
Celina had early leads in each of the first two sets before the Flyers got hot at the service line.
The lead changed hands four times with four ties early in the first set with the teams tied at 9-all with Celina serving, but Marion's Brooke Evers got the kill to make it 10-9 and send teammate Chloe Ronnebaum back to serve. Ronnebaum quickly found her rhythm, rattling off eight straight points. Evers and Mya Eckstein each had a kill and the pair combined for a block while Ronnebaum had an ace before a net serve stopped the run at 18-10.
"I think they did a nice job staying focused," said Flyers coach Katherine Dirksen. "I told them in the huddle that sometimes when you get a lead like that, you head into the danger zone a little bit and take the foot off the accelerator a bit. They did a nice job of being mindful and getting the job done."
Celina managed to trim the deficit to five at 21-16, but Marion put the game away quickly after.
Braylen Ashmore got an ace to start the second set to put Celina in front 2-0 early, but the third serve went out as Eckstein went back to serve. The Flyer sophomore had three aces as part of a 10-point run that put Marion in front 11-2 before Mylee Sapp's spike put a halt to it. Celina was unable to get any sustained service runs of its own to cut into the margin. Grace Moeller wrapped up the second set with a kill to make it a 2-0 lead in sets.
Celina's Mylee Sapp (6) spikes the ball as Marion Local's Grace Moeller goes up for the block.
"We do have a lot of talent with big hitters and raw ability that needs to find a way to work together," said Amy Sutter, the longtime Celina coach who with Christie Binkley will co-coach the Bulldogs for the rest of the season. "I told them in the locker room that we kind of got in our own way and fell apart. We let mistakes weigh on us the whole game and could not recover."
In the final set, Eckstein decided not to let Celina jump out again, opening the set with seven straight points, including an ace, before the Bulldogs could get the stop. Avae Unrast then applied the final touches with nine straight points to make it 22-6. Celina managed just one more point before Marion got the serve back. Addison Eyink came off the bench, served up an ace before Kasey Moeller got a kill to close out the match.
"Even in those moments when we rallied back and forth, we stayed sharp and hit the ball over," said Dirksen, "Doing the little things right all the time."
Eckstein had five aces on the night. Kuether and Ronnebaum each had four kills with Moeller recording three blocks.
Sapp and Bange each had five kills with Bange serving up three aces and adding 14 digs. Haley Kizer had 13 assists.
Marion is off until Thursday when the Flyers open Midwest Athletic Conference play at the Hanger with Fort Recovery. Celina faces Versailles tonight before opening Western Buckeye League play Thursday at Van Wert.
Marion Local's Natalie Evers sets up a teammate for a spike during Monday's match with Celina.
