HOMETOWN - Halifax head coach Jackie Miller had already asked for three timeouts to stem the flood of points scored against her Wildcats.
But with Marian owning a two-game lead and a 6-2 edge on the scoreboard, Fillies head coach John Fallabel was the one asking to stop the match.
He had a good reason.
Teammates surrounded junior setter Abby O'Donnell, and her parents, Donna and Tom, and sister Samantha presented her with balloons and flowers.
The rewards came for her 2,000th career assist.
And then the assists and points kept coming as Schuylkill League Division IV leader Marian closed a 25-14, 25-9, 25-5 dismantling of Division III pacesetter Halifax.
"We came into this game knowing Halifax beat Tri-Valley, and Tri-Valley is a rival of ours," O'Donnell said. "So we just had it in our head that we had to bring our best, and we did and we dominated."
The ceremony was a bonus for O'Donnell, who already has secured her spot among the school's all-time leading setters.
"This is our best year with spreading the ball around," Fallabel said. "For her first two years, it was her and Marykate (Sherkness), her and Marykate. Marykate had 400 to 500 kills a year, so she (O'Donnell) ran up her numbers pretty good.
"Now she's having to work around."
Tuesday, O'Donnell posted 31 assists in three games and used one of her newest weapons in middle hitter Abby Stankiewitch, who had 16 kills while hitting .727.
"I couldn't convince her of that," Fallabel said of Stankiewitch's positioning on the court. "I had to go out there two different games and say, 'Set the middle. Just set the middle. Force it. Run it. There's no blocker there.' "
However, that was only part of the problem for Halifax, whose 5-1 start included four wins in a row in Division III.
After the Wildcats (5-2, 4-1 D-III) lost serve to start the match, the Fillies' Emily Pilla dealt two consecutive aces as part of her five-point service run.
That started a theme of faulty attempts to corral Marian's serves.
"Fortunately, we have our one practice tomorrow, and that's what we're going to work on, our own hard serves and our serve receive," said Miller, adding, "They have great, powerful serves. It controls the game."
Yet Fallabel noted Marian's errant serves cost his team eight points in the opening game.
However, the Fillies never trailed after Pilla's run as O'Donnell's passes to Stankiewitch produced seven kills in the set.
Halifax suffered more of the same in the second set despite two timeouts in bids to break the momentum.
Leading off with three more serves by Pilla that Halifax could not control, Marian broke out to a 16-3 edge. Senior Grace Boyle recorded four kills during the surge, and Marian's lead eventually reached its largest margin, 16 points, at the finish.
The Wildcats then produced their highlight to begin the third game as senior setter Catherine Amoriello served an ace and Marian committed a hitting error to give Halifax a 2-0 lead.
But Pilla again stepped to the service line, and by the time her last attempt hit the net, Marian had scored 10 straight points to take control. Stankiewitch blocked one spike for a kill and took assists from O'Donnell, including the milestone, for two other kills.
Even the Marian timeout to honor O'Donnell wasn't going to stop the Fillies (5-0, 5-0 D-IV), who also took the JV match 2-0.
"It was great. I was surprised," she said. "I didn't know I was that close to getting my 2,000th, but I wouldn't have been able to do it without my team behind me."
She added, "It's an honor to be even someone who had 1,000 assists, let alone 2,000."
Even with such success Tuesday, Fallabel continued to stress improvement by his Fillies.
"Passing, setting, hitting, serving, serve receive, defense, blocking," he said. "Work on those and you see what happens."
To Miller, those elements are already on display in Hometown.
"Volleyball's big up here. They start really young, and it shows," she said.