Ryan Murken

Your Prep Sports

SOLON – Solon was close on Tuesday night.

The Spartans were close to their first WAMAC East Division victory, a win over a ranked team and a major boost heading into the final few weeks of the regular season.

Solon was close but couldn’t turn the corner in a 27-25, 25-22, 28-26 loss to Class 4A No. 11 Marion in a WAMAC contest in Solon.

“We are so close, we are just one step away,” Solon senior Grace Erwin said. “I think we are improving and we just need to improve a little bit more and we are there.”

Class 3A No. 10 Solon led late leads slip away in the first and third sets while dropping to 16-9 on the season.

Marion closed the match on a 9-2 run and improved to 14-8 on the season.

The loss was the fifth straight to a ranked opponent for Solon which dropped to 0-3 in WAMAC East Division matches.

“It feels like we are always just right around the corner and we just need to turn it,” Solon senior Yasmine Sell said. “We are right there.”

Solon led the opening set 20-18 but it was Marion that made all the key plays down the stretch in a 27-25 win.

Carlee Webber had two kills and an ace serve to account for three of the final five points for the Wolves in the opening set.

“I think it was just our communication on defense,” Erwin said. “We were not communicating very well on balls.”

Webber had six kills in the second set as Marion never trailed on its way to a 25-22 win.

Solon appeared poised to extend the match when it took a 21-18 lead late in the third set with a 3-0 spurt that featured a kill and a solo block by junior Kylie Devery.

The Spartans led 24-19 after another three-point burst that started with a Devery kill and featured back-to-back solo blocks by Erwin.

“I think our court awareness has improved, we are playing together and we know our strengths,” Erwin said. “It’s just confidence. It’s all mental. If we get down we just need to bring ourselves back up.”

Marion responded with five consecutive points to tie the score at 24.

Addison Parker started the 5-0 spurt with a kill and Webber had two kills and a solo block in the run that evened the score at 24.

After Erwin gave Solon a 25-24 lead the Wolves twice fought off match point and scored the final three points on two Webber kills and a Spartan error.

“There were a lot of times where we had leads and I don’t know if we got too comfortable but we didn’t keep fighting,” Sell said.

Webber had 17 kills, two ace serves and two solo blocks to lead Marion.

Sell had 11 kills to lead Solon while Erwin had nine kills and four solo blocks.

Solon travels to Class 3A fourth-ranked West Delaware on October 1.

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