SCHUYLKILL HAVEN - Blue Mountain was overpowering early, and overwhelming late.

And unfortunately for Marian, there was very little gap in between.

The Eagles rolled to a 25-9, 25-17, 25-10 victory over the Fillies in a Schuylkill League volleyball quarterfinal match on Monday.

“They are the best team in the league,” said Marian coach John “Doc” Fallabel. “This was an old fashion whopping.

“They dominated from beginning to end.”

It didn’t take long for Blue Mountain to establish its dominance, as the Eagles jumped out to a 9-3 lead in the opening game, forcing an early Fillies’ timeout.

“We talked about coming out aggressive and trying to take it to them early,” said Blue Mountain coach Nick Marrongelle. “We served well, we passed well, and we spread the ball around among our hitters.

“I was happy how we came and took control early, but I was even happier about how we never let up. We established our momentum early, and then just kept building on it.”

Leading 10-4 in the opening game, the Eagles got a six-point service run from Regina Gergely, along with a five-point run from Maddy McDonald to close out the easy opening-game win.

“Marian is a good team,” said Marrongelle. “It has a long-standing tradition of being one of the premier programs in the league, so we knew we would have to be on our game tonight.” The Fillies’ lone stretch of strong play came at the outset of the second game when they jumped out to a 9-7 lead behind a couple of kills from Alivia Karchner, and a pair of blocks each from Rebecca Dzuranin and Kelly Sullivan.

But Marian’s momentum didn’t last long as Blue Mountain re-established its dominance, reeling off eight straight points to take a 15-9 lead. The Fillies never got any closer as the Eagles’ powerful frontline of Grace Woll, Myah Conway and Maddy Robinson took charge to close out the game.

“We struggled receiving their serves, which led to a lot of free balls going over the net,” said Fallabel. “That’s asking for trouble, and Blue Mountain definitely took advantage of it.

“They had easy passes, their setter moved the ball around, and their hitters made very few mistakes.”

The third game was a replay of the opener as Blue Mountain jumped out to a 10-2 lead, and was never threatened.

“We had a .312 hitting percentage tonight,” said Marrongelle. “That’s really nice. That’s where we want to be. This is definitely one of our best matches of the season.

“I think that’s a testament to how hard our girls have been working. If we can continue to play like we did tonight, we will be a tough out in the postseason.”

NUMBERS ... Woll had 15 kills, Conway had 11 and Robinson six to lead the Eagles at the net. Jocelyn Marshall had a strong game defensively with 18 digs for Blue Mountain. Woll added 12 and Conway had 11. For Marian, Ashlyn Klitsch had 15 assists; Karchner had 11 kills; and Tatiana Zeleniak had nine digs.

RECORDS ... Blue Mountain, which was 12-0 in the league during the regular season, improves to 16-1 overall. Marian falls to 10-3.

UP NEXT ... The Eagles will face Pine Grove on Wednesday in the league semis at Martz Hall. Marian is off until next week when it opens the District 11 Class 1A playoffs.