By Buddy "Friday Night" Cobb, Williamson County Bureau
MARION, Ill. — The last time Marion High School volleyball had a winning record, the Wildcats didn't just win — they took the South Seven Conference title and the program's first Class 3A regional championship. That was 2022, when Marion finished 24-5, according to the Southern Illinoisan.
Three seasons later, the Wildcats are looking to get back there, with Carbondale standing as the other program eyeing the top of the conference this fall.
A winning record sounds like a modest bar until you're the program that hasn't cleared it in three years. For Marion, this season is about closing that gap — building back toward the kind of team that made 2022 feel less like a peak and more like a floor.
The South Seven doesn't hand out easy nights, and Carbondale won't make it simple. But Marion has been here before, and knows what it looks like when it works.
— Compiled from reporting by the Southern Illinoisan.
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