MINERSVILLE - The Marian volleyball team is doing what it normally does at this time of the year: Win postseason games.

The Fillies brought the broom out of the closet and put it to good use Thursday, sweeping by rival Mahanoy Area in three sets - 25-16, 25-23, 25-14 - in the semifinal round of the District 11 Class 1A tournament.

With the win, the Fillies advance to Tuesday’s championship round to be played at Martz Hall. They’ll face a familiar foe in Schuylkill League rival Nativity, which defeated Tri-Valley in the other semifinal contest.

One had to marvel at the play of Marian senior Abby Kluck. She was the pace setter throughout the three sets which led Mahanoy Area coach Jason Green to design a game plan to keep Kluck in check.

“They didn’t listen to the game plan,” Green pointed out about trying to quell the way Kluck can come up with kills. “We listened (to the plan) for a while, then got away from it.”

That plan was not to serve in Kluck’s direction. She had 17 kills, including seven in the first set alone.

“I think we played with a lot of heart tonight,” Kluck said. “We’ve been working very hard, and wanted to pick up everything that we can. We wanted to hustle and not let a ball hit the (floor).”

That was at the forefront in set one. Marian took command after breaking away from a 10-9 lead. The score ballooned to 21-13 as the Fillies sailed to the first-set win with ease.

Maria Serina liked the word “click” when she was asked about the way her team played after a sluggish second set.

However when the third set rolled around, Serina admitted “it was so fun to watch.”

The Fillies were finally hitting on all cylinders. They hardly missed a beat, compared to an up-and-down second set.

Give the Bears their due. They were pressing the issue, taking a 4-0 lead, and as the set moved forward, Mahanoy looked as if it had an answer for the Fillies, taking a 17-13 lead. But suddenly, Marian put the skids to the Bears’ momentum.

Marian forced a 20-20 tie, but never seemed to fret after Mahanoy got the next two points. The Fillies were digging and caught a wave of momentum with Caydense Smith in serve scoring an ace, then closed it out with three straight kills. Isabell Horvat, Alena Lombardo and Lara Cancio all blasted away for a strong second-set finish.

Marian felt the wave building in its favor as it rattled off leads of 10-2 and 19-9, before finishing the win off to call it an evening.

“When the girls came back into the huddle, that passion for one point was so evident how they reacted,” Serina explained.

The ending was nothing short of stellar for Serina and her squad.

BIG LIFT … Kluck surely was the standout, but there were other stars in the mix. Setter Julia Meiss is tough once she settles into a flow, and ditto for Megan Reaman, Lombardo, Cancio and Horvat.

BY THE NUMBERS … Mahanoy was led by Namoi Kowalick’s five kills, Lexie Chillinskas’ 15 assists, and Hailey Mroczka’s five digs.

BIG NUMBER … When Serina rattled off Kluck’s attack number, she smiled about the 17 kills on 41 attempts. Reaman hit the deck for 17 digs.