Marlington volleyball punches third straight ticket to state; boys soccer falls in regional final

It’s kind of hard to believe, but in late August, the Marlington volleyball team stood at 1-2.

Well, make that 25-2, as the Dukes just keep winning — this time defeating Cleveland Heights Beaumont in a Division IV regional semifinal and Parma Heights Holy Name in the regional final.

In the Oct. 29 regional semifinal, which Marlington won 3-0 (25-20, 25-23, 25-15), Danica Sarchione led the Dukes with 18 kills, 10 service points and 21 digs. Cali Young dished out 32 assists, and Amiiah Sickles had 17 receptions and added 13 digs.

On Nov. 1, the Dukes swept Holy Name 3-0 (27-25, 25-15, 25-23), which punched their ticket to their third consecutive state tournament, where Marlington will face Delaware Buckeye Valley (24-3) in the semifinals. Young, Stark County’s Division IV Offensive Player of the Year, racked up 19 service points, 25 assists and 13 digs for Marlington, while Sarchione added 15 kills and four aces.

The Dukes’ continued success is all the more impressive considering the talent that Marlington has graduated over the last two years.

Boys soccer

After 80 minutes of regulation play and two overtime periods, the Dukes and Revere were scoreless in their Oct. 29 regional semifinal match, so Marlington resorted to penalty kicks and won in a shootout to claim the 1-0 victory over the Minutemen (11-6-3). It was the second consecutive match to end in a shootout for the Dukes, who also relied on kicks to clinch their district title over Gates Mills Hawken last week.

Marlington’s fortunes, however, turned in the Nov. 2 regional final against Cuyahoga Valley Christian Academy as the Royals (17-2-2) held off a furious late-match rally to deny the Dukes their sixth consecutive win and a spot in the state tournament, winning 2-1.

CVCA pounced first as the Royals’ Nick Myers scored only eight minutes into the match. Marlington struggled to get any shots on goal early, and with about 17 minutes remaining in the second half, the Royals scored again off a corner kick as Myers collected his second goal of the afternoon.

With 10½ minutes remaining, the Dukes got on the board as Tommy Miller headed in a score off a kick by Brock Swisher to narrow their deficit to a single goal. Marlington had several other good looks at goal that were well defended by CVCA, and then with about four minutes left, the Dukes (16-2-4) appeared to have scored the tying goal on a corner kick, but it was waved off by officials.

With just two minutes left, the Royals’ goalkeeper made a fantastic save on a Marlington shot, allowing CVCA to run its winning streak to 10 and hang on for the 2-1 win.