Is the Marian volleyball team once again poised to reach the top of the mountain?

The 2020 Fillies seem to be close to returning to the powerhouse program that dominated league, district and state opposition for well over a decade.

Thursday’s 25-9, 25-8, 25-7 sweep of Weatherly might have looked easy, but there are some flaws that aren’t sitting well with veteran head coach John “Doc” Fallabel.

Ala the late Joe Paterno, the Doc was quick to point out his team’s errors despite the easy victory. But underneath the demanding demeanor he displayed, one can tell Fallabel has this team primed for a serious run.

That’s why he is making sure his team doesn’t get complacent - especially with old nemesis Nativity waiting in the wings for a pair of matches next week.

“We had 12 service errors ... that’s not good,” Fallabel said immediately following the victory.

The Fillies balanced the service errors with an impressive 26 aces - although not everyone was impressed.

“Yeah, but there were too many holes that Weatherly wasn’t defending,” Fallabel noted about an inexperienced Wrecker squad. “All we had to do was serve the creases. There were too many girls in a closed up area. A lot of the aces were a result of that.”

The Fillies were never tested. They reeled off six straight aces with senior Tatiana Zeleniak at the line, as she lifted her team to a 10-0 lead in the first set. Zeleniak finished the match with 10 aces.

“They are just well prepared,” said Weatherly head coach Nikki Hinkle. “They have such great athletes, and they play together. They know where everyone on the court is.”

One of those great athletes is four-year letter winner Alivia Karchner, a Division I recruit. The 6-0 outside/middle hitter salted away 10 kills to go along with three aces.

“I’ll tell you, we’ve got four wonderful seniors,” Fallabel said rattling off the names of Rebecca Dzuranin, Jamison Wheeler, Karchner and Zeleniak. “They’re our leaders; they’ve been through some rough times the last two seasons.”

Now, they’re off and running with a 7-0 mark (6-0 SIAL). But the success has revolved around the subtle lineup changes Fallabel has modified.

“We’re a very experienced team - 10 of our top players are juniors and seniors,” Fallabel said.

In the second set, Marian had another 10-0 run behind the play of Lizzy Snerr, who had four aces.

The final set was the most productive one for Weatherly (0-9), when it led for the first and only time at 3-1 behind the serving of Kelly Michaels.

The Fillies quickly turned things around, however, and breezed to the sweep.

“We still have some things to clean up,” Fallabel said.

Despite its coach trying to keep things in perspective, it’s obvious the Marian program is back on track.

The Fillies will find out how far they’ve come with the measuring stick that is Nativity lurking.

The “Holy Wars” will take place Monday and Tuesday of next week.

DOWN YEARS? ... Marian captured six straight District 11 titles between 2012-2017, before coming up short the last two seasons. Although losses in the district semifinals (2018 and 2019) don’t constitute a “down year” for most programs, it definitely wasn’t the norm for a Fillies program where championships and titles had become almost expected.

GETTING TO KNOW YOU

… As much as Fallabel has a solid group of upperclassmen, there’s a lot of superb stars ready to bloom in the lower grades. Included in that group are frosh Abby Clark, along with sophomores Megan Paisley and Jenna Goff.

THE SEC IS KNOCKING

… There have been some outstanding volleyball players to come through the Marian program, but Karchner is right smack-in-the-middle of the foray. She’s being recruited by Tennessee of the Southeast Conference.

STATS

… In addition to the numbers put up by Karchner and Zeleniak, Ashlyn Klitsch had 23 assists for the Fillies, while Dzuranin added six kills. For the Wreckers, Ashley James, the team’s lone senior, collared seven digs and two kills, while Huntyr Eichhorst collected six digs and three kills.