The Marion volleyball team entered the final week of the regular season with an opportunity to earn a share of the conference title, and maybe even a No. 1 seed in next week's state tournament. The Patriots reacted accordingly on Tuesday night. Playing its 2024 home finale inside 3M Transit Arena, Marion hosted old rival Mountain Home in its penultimate conference match of the season, and the hosts came up with one of their better outings of October, dispatching the Bombers in three sets (25-8, 25-16, and 25-23). Marion can finish no worse than the No. 2 playoff seed as a result of its victory over Mountain Home, and the Patriots will be 5A East co-champions at worst with a win on Thursday at Searcy. Marion can earn an outright 5A East conference title with a win at Searcy and a Valley View loss at Greene County Tech. Marion (22-7 overall, 13-2 5A East) got a team-high 10 kills from Kendall Brown, while Kaitlyn Austin, Marlee Williams, and Claire Brinkley came up with four apiece. The Patriots served 10 aces against Mountain Home, including four from Maggie Miller and three from Austin. Abby Simmons tallied a team-high 22 digs while Austin and Brinkley finished with 11 apiece. Brinkley and Miller led Marion with 14 and 11 assists, respectively. Mountain Home (19-7, 11-4) hit the court quicker than Marion in the first set, however. The Bombers scored the first three points of the frame on a kill, a block, and an ace. From there, Marion outscored Mountain Home 25-5 the rest of the opening period. Miller hit Brinkley for Marion's first point, which led to back-to-back blocks by Brown as Marion drew even, and Marion took the lead for good at 4-3 when Brinkley set Williams for a kill. The Pats took their first double-digit lead (17-7) of the night when Miller served her third ace in a six-point span in the first set, and Austin got the hot hand late in the frame, serving a pair of aces of her own. Marion scored the first four points of the second set as Brown, Austin, and Miller came up with kills, and when the Patriots lead hit 10-4 on a Bomber hitting error, the visitors called for time. The Patriot advantage hit double-digits in the second set following four straight Marion points, including two Brown kills, a Williams block, and a Simmons ace, and Brown served an ace of her own to slam the door on the Bombers in set No. 2. But Mountain Home did not back down from the Marion onslaught the first two sets. The Bombers scored seven of the first eight points of the third frame, including back-to-back block points from Anna McCarn and Micayla Magis, and Mountain Home's largest lead peaked at 11-3 to force a Marion timeout. Marion hammered away from there as Miller came up with assists to Austin, Aynslee Coad, and Brown before a kill of her own got the Pats within 13-9 as Mountain Home called for time. Brinkley hit Brown twice, and Brown slammed a block home to get Marion within 17-15 as the Bombers used another timeout. An Alexa Shinabery ace got Marion even at 18, but the Bombers fashioned a 22-19 lead late in the frame before Brinkley hit Williams and Coad for consecutive points, and Miller found Brinkley for a kill to tie the frame at 23. From there, Coad came up with a block point as Marion scored the last five points of the third set to complete the sweep. WHAT'S NEXT? Marion caps its 2024 season on Thursday afternoon with its final match at Searcy. The junior varsity/varsity doubleheader will begin at 4:30 p.m., and you can watch the varsity match for free on MarionPatriots.com, on the MPAN YouTube channel, or on the MPAN mobile app. 5A EAST RESULTS FROM 10/22 Marion 3, Mountain Home 0 Valley View 3, Searcy 0 Greene Co. Tech 3, Batesville 0 Nettleton 3, W. Memphis 1 5A EAST MATCHES ON 10/24 Marion at Searcy Valley View at Greene Co. Tech Mountain Home at Nettleton W. Memphis at Paragould