Volleyball: Marathon stays unbeaten in Marawood-South with hard-fought 3 set sweep of Newman Catholic.

Some three set sweeps are not the same. On Tuesday, in a match broadcast on Wausau Area Sports, the Newman Catholic volleyball team jumped out to quick leads in all three sets at Marathon. However, the Red Raiders would rally to win each set and top the Cardinals 28-26, 25-19, 25-18 in a Marawood-South matchup.

In set 1, Newman came out strong and immediately took a 7-2 lead before a Marathon timeout. Newman would maintain the advantage and extend the lead to 20-14 late in the set. A service run by freshman Maddie Jansen would help turn the set around for Marathon. After won a point on Newman's serve to make it 20-15, Jansen's serve would win four straight points to get the Raiders within 20-19. Newman would settle down and pull back ahead 23-20 to get within two points of the set. A pair of Mayven Schneider service points got Marathon back to even at 23-23. Newman would get a set point at 24-23 on a kill by Madison Keene. Rehgan Martin's kill kept the set alive for Marathon at 24-24. Enya McCarthy gave Newman another set point with a kill to make it 25-24. However, Newman then had a service error to lose another chance to win the set. Marathon would finally take set 1 28-26.

Newman didn't let the disappointment of leading almost all of set 1 before falling affect them for long. The Cardinals again started set 2 strong. The combination of Lexi Rice's sets and Keene's kills was a key feature in helping Newman build an 11-4 lead. However, it was almost all Marathon the rest of the set. The Raiders would win 7 of the next 8 points to pull within 12-11. Jansen had another service run that featured a number of Katelyn Love kills during that stretch. Newman would have a four point run on the serves of Brooke Thiel to lead 17-13 but Marathon would win 11 of the final 12 points of the set to win it 25-19 and take a 2 sets to love lead.

The 3rd set was a sequel to the first two sets. The Cardinals quickly jumped out to a 6-1 lead. Marathon didn't wait as long to respond in the 3rd set as they scored 13 of the next 17 points to lead 14-10 and lead for good. The Schneider to Martin combo was big during the run for the Raiders. Marathon would continue to build the lead and ultimately complete the sweep 25-18.

Marathon is 18-2 overall and 2-0 in the Marawood-South while Newman drops to 1-1 in the league. Newman's next league game is next Tuesday at home vs. Auburndale in a match that will be broadcast live on Wausau Area Sports.