POTTSVILLE - Conestoga Christian wanted to bang the drum slowly.

In other words, the Cougars needed to establish a slower pace than Marian in the opening round of the PIAA Class 1A state volleyball tournament at Martz Hall.Fillie coach Dr. John Fallabel had scouted the opponent and felt that if his attackers could keep the pace up and keep the returns away from the middle, they would march on to the second round.Afterward, the highly successful coach threw his arms up the air, and said: "I'm not scouting any more… for what!"Fallabel's remark came after he watched his team do just the opposite of the game plan and still roll to a 25-19, 30-28, 25-18 victory."I'm telling you we didn't have a very good game," the demanding Fallabel said. "Sure we won, but we sure didn't play to our potential."Senior middle hitter Miranda Antiga agreed with her coach's assessment."We didn't take them for granted, but we played down to their level," said Antiga.The District 3 runner-ups rely heavily on 6-1 senior Grace Miller, the club's athletic middle hitter."We didn't do a very good job keeping the ball away from Miller," said Fallabel.Without a doubt, Miller was the fuel in the team's tank. But she was outnumbered by a deep and talented Fillies' rotation.Marian's dynamic and powerful outside hitter Jasmine Mooney and setter Gianna Agosti led the way. But they got plenty of support from teammates Antonia Galasso, Antonina Zeleniak, Emily Meier, Elena Beckett, Katie Spillman, Jenna O'Donnell, Macie Mazalusky and Antiga to form a mountain too high for the Cougars overcome.After a slow start in the opening set, Mooney made sure the Fillies finished strong.Mooney took charge when she stepped to the service line and her team trailing, 19-16.Boom, bam and turn out the lights the party was about to be over.Mooney reeled off a chilling and awesome barrage of aces - six straight at one point - to lift her team to a 25-19 victory."Yeah I had fun with it, it's something that I like to focus on" said the 6-1 junior all-state player. "It's something that I work on at practice and I had a lot of coaches work with me on it."Mooney wasn't finished with her powerful serves either. In set three, she banged out five more aces and finished the match with 14 to go along with 19 kills. In all, the Fillies had 33 kills, with Antiga adding eight and Agosti three.Despite the strong finish to the opening set, things became antsy and frustrating for the Fillies in the second set as they struggled to find continuity.It looked like Marian nearly started to take control at 20-17, but Conestoga Christian rallied. Starting at 21-21, there were eight times. The Cougars even had one set point when a Miller kill gave them a 28-27 lead."I got nervous there when they took the lead," said Antiga. "I really didn't know what to expect, you just need to keep playing."But like the opening set, when the Fillies were in trouble they turned to their "hammer." After a service error tied the score at 28-28, Mooney slammed home a kill to put her team in front and give the Fillies the momentum they needed to close out the set.The third set was tied at 14-14 before Mooney once again took over. First, she finished off a kill at the net and then followed that up with five straight service points to put the Fillies comfortably ahead. Marian was never challenged after that as it cruised home with the sweep.NIFTY SERVES ... Mooney hit the net twice during her big service run, but her powerful stroke allowed the ball to get over the net for points. Agosti also had a serve hit the net and trickled over the net for a point.BY THE NUMBERS ... Agosti continues to lead the Fillies in assists, picking up 31 on Tuesday.NEXT TRIP ... Marian plays Saturday against District 2 champ Blue Ridge, which beat Galetown 3-1.