POTTSVILLE - Both Marian and Weatherly are having awesome volleyball seasons.

The Fillies are undefeated and the lady Wreckers made district playoffs for the first time in the eight years that a volleyball program exists at the school.On Tuesday, the season must come to an end for one of the schools when they face each other at Martz Hall.Both schools advanced to semi-final competition during the opening round of District XI Class A play at Martz over the weekend.Marian won its pool by easily handling Salem Christian and Minersville, and then topping Pottsville Nativity in two-of-three games.Weatherly finished second in its pool, topping Lehigh Valley Christian and Pius X of Roseto in three games, then dropping two of three games to Tri-Valley. The first place winner of each pool faces the second place winner of each pool Tuesday night, with the winner of those games meeting in the district finals on Thursday.On Tuesday, Nativity battles Tri-Valley at 6 p.m., followed by Marian vs. Weatherly at about 7:30 p.m.MarianUntil meeting Nativity, Marian had a fairly easy day. The same can be said for Nativity, though, as both rolled past Salem Christian and MinersvilleIn the opener of their three-game match, Nativity tied the game twice (7-7 and 14-14) but never led the Fillies. Marian won, 25-20.In game two, Nativity scored the first seven points of the game, and eventually jumped into a 17-6 lead. Marian could not bounce back and lost, 25-14.Game three was close all through it, with the score knotted 12 times, the last one being 20-20. Then the potent front line of Marian played an impact, accounting for four of the last five points including an ace and two spikes by sophomore outside hitter Marykate Sherkness.The victory improved Marian's record to 19-0.Sherkness was honored at the end of the day for having the new single-season kills record at Marian. She had a total of 39 kills in the three games on Saturday bringing her season total to 439 for the year. The previous record was Joelle Snyder, now playing at Lebanon Valley College and a Division III All-American, who had 387 kills in 2006.Sherkness had 15 of those kills against Nativity.Other stats by Marian players for the three-games were Sherkness, 13 aces, 21 digs, and two blocks; Taylor Mele, 10 kills, 11 aces, 30 digs, and 37 service points; Rachel Krajcirik, five kills, 71 assists, and 16 digs; Tori Vadyak, 21 kills, four digs, and six blocks; Kathleen Reilly, 15 kills and eight blocks; and Laura Cinnicola, nine kills, five assists and four blocks.Krajcirik, the team captain for Marian, remarked that against Nativity, "We were really nervous." She said of the second game which Nativity won, "We knew we gave them that game. Their serves took us off course right away.""Then when we got into the third game, it was neck-in-neck, which is the best way to play Nativity."The Fillies wore pink shirts for the day, while Nativity wore pink shoelaces.Last year, at the suggestion of Nativity coach Maria Serina, the two teams wore pink for Breast Cancer Awareness Month, observed in October. Two weeks ago, when the two teams played each other, they again wore pink. Since Saturday still was October, they wore pink again.WeatherlyLike Marian, it came down to the final hits to determine whether they would be first or second in their pool.After splitting games, the Lady Wreckers and Tri-Valley were tied at 21 in the third game. Then came possibly the longest exchange of the tournament, with the two teams exchanging the ball at least a dozen times. Tri-Valley emerged the winner of the exchange and went on to score the final four points in the game."I knew whoever got that long rally would win," said Weatherly head coach Nicole Selert, in her second year as head coach. "That long rally killed us."Selert said she's very proud of the successful season of the volleyball team, remarking, "We've improved big time. We stepped up our games."Brittany Hinkle, a senior, has become a big factor in the success with her kills, noted Selert, and Samantha Strizak, also a senior who plays middle hitter, has improved."The girls were great," said Selert. "We were 1-1 with Tri-Valley and it was close right to the end."Against Tri-Valley, the Lady Wreckers scores were 19-25, 25-14, and 21-25.Weatherly and Tri Valley both bested Lehigh Valley Christian and Pius X in three games each to emerge undefeated to the final match in their pool.