Winning one for Abby

MARION - This one was for Abby. So is the next one.

If there are any after that, they'll be for Abby Phillips, too.

'Abby has always been such a great leader for us,” said Olivia Frazier, after her Marion Indians disposed of Davenport Assumption in a Class 4A volleyball regional semifinal Thursday night. 'She has always helped us so much, so we have that much more motivation to repay her, to give her that feeling of going to state. Because that's all she's wanted.”

Phillips is been a four-year starter for the Indians but recently suffered a spiral fracture in her hand that has her out of action. The Iowa State recruit might be done for the season, no one's quite sure.

Even if she can't play, her teammates want to make certain she gets to experience the state tournament.

'We're playing for her,” said Marion's Alyssa Thomas. 'We want to get her to state so badly. She has worked so hard the last four years. I love her to death, and I just want to get her there. All the seniors are amazing. This team is so close. I love winning with this team because they're great people.”

Third-ranked Marion (32-7) will be heavily favored to get to state, as it opposes unranked DeWitt Central (18-18) in a regional final Tuesday night at Maquoketa. It had little trouble with 12th-ranked Assumption, winning, 25-8, 25-5 and 25-19.

This was role reversal from a season ago, when Assumption eliminated the Indians in a regional final.

'A lot of these girls played last year for us, and they had a very new team. I think they only had one or two girls who were back,” said Marion Coach Roxanne Paulsen. 'So it did kind of remind me of us against them last year. We were the young team last year that didn't have many seniors on it, playing against a very experienced team. This year, it was kind of flip-flopped.”

'Last year, we played the best we could,” said Thomas, who finished with 12 kills and six blocks. 'We played them point for point, but they just had too much for us. This year, we still thought it would be a good game, but we just wanted to do our jobs. Last year, we didn't really play like we were having much fun, so this year, that was the main goal. We wanted to have fun, show everyone why we love playing volleyball.”

Frazier was a twin terror up front with Thomas, adding six kills and 10 blocks. Amanda Sahm had a team-high 14 assists, Johanna Steggall a team-high 12 digs. Tanea Westhoff was 21-for-21 serving with three aces.

Assumption (18-15) rebounded some in the third game, taking an early lead and pulling into a 17-17 tie. But Paulsen called timeout, and her team responded with the next seven points.

A Thomas kill ended the match.

'I thought we really blocked well tonight,” Paulsen said. 'That was one of the things, coming in, that we wanted to work on ... That is one of the things I think we can do up front with all of the size that we have.”

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