Marshall County Lady Marshals volleyball team opened the season with two losses to Crittenden County and Ballard Memorial but have since turned the tables with three straight wins to improve to 3-2. With Tuesday’s 3-0 (25-20, 25-11, 25-16) sweep over Murray (8-5), they improve to 2-0 in the Fourth District with the other win coming over Christian Fellowship.
In Tuesday’s three-set win over Murray, the Lady Marshals clawed their way back after trailing in the opening set before firmly taking control of the match. Down 12-4, kills from juniors Olivia Hawkins and Catherine Shelton was the start of an eight-point run that tied the set up at 12-12. Hawkins set up the 8-0 run with eight straight successful serves.
The set would knot up two more times before the Lady Marshals began to pull away and earn a 25-20 set one win on an out of bounds block on Murray following an attack by senior Kylie Merrick for the final point.
In set two, the Lady Marshals quickly extended their lead out to 11-5 on an ace by junior Hadley Barrett and then cruised to a 25-11 second set win, finishing it off on kills by Hawkins and Merrick.
Following a kill from Shelton, they took a commanding 14-5 lead in the third set and three straight kills by Hawkins closed out three of the final four points to take the 25-16 win and three set sweep.
Hawkins led in the match with 13 kills followed by 11 from Merrick. Hawkins served up three aces and had 10 digs. Sophomore Emma Reynolds led in assists with 23 and had 11 digs. Barrett led in digs with 13.
Both the JV and freshman Lady Marshals won their matches over Murray 2-0.
Recapping the first four games of the season, the Lady Marshals opened 2024 on a 3-1 loss to Crittenden County. Leading in kills was Hawkins with 11 and Merrick with eight. Shelton had four blocks and Hawkins and Laney Yates had three aces each. Reynolds finished with 24 assists and 17 digs while Barrett had 14 digs.
In their 3-0 (10-25, 21-25, 27-29) loss to Ballard Memorial, Hawkins had nine kills and Merrick six. Reynolds recorded 15 assists and Shelton three blocks. In digs, Maleah Terry had 16 and Barrett 13.
Their current win-streak began with their 3-0 (25-20, 25-17, 25-19) win last week over district opponent Christian Fellowship. Hawkins finished with 11 kills and four aces. Reynolds had 18 assists and 11 digs. Barrett 15 digs and four aces.
The Lady Marshals followed up the win over CFS with a 3-1 (25-18, 20-25, 25-12, 25-20) win over Graves County on Thursday. Merrick led in kills with five and Nora Clark had four. Other stat leaders were Barrett with 24 digs, Reynolds 15 assists, Shelton four blocks and Yates served up five aces.
Thursday they will head to LaCenter to meet the Ballard Memorial Lady Bombers (8-3) for a second time this season.
