The top-seeded John Marshall Monarchs defended their home court Monday against No. 5 Brooke, sweeping the Bruins 25-12, 25-10, 25-18 in the WVSSAC Class AAA Region 1 tournament, but Brooke stayed alive in the double-elimination tourney by turning around and sweeping No. 4 North Marion right after, 25-16, 25-17, 25-13.

Now, the Monarchs and Bruins have another date on Wednesday, most likely returning again to the John Marshall Fieldhouse, for a game that could send John Marshall to the state tournament if they win. Brooke would have to best the Monarchs twice to advance themselves.

“At the beginning of the season, our main goal was to get to Charleston,” John Marshall head coach Chelsea Eikleberry said. “Our girls have really worked hard. We had this past week off, which was kind of a weird thing, first time all season, so we had some really good practices.

“These girls have come together. They’re working together as a team. They want what’s best for each other, I think more so than just themselves. So they’re putting a lot of hard work in the gym, and it’s paying off for us.”

Against the Bruins, John Marshall had a balanced attack along the net. Nia Miller tallied nine kills, Sarah Naome and Addison Blake each had eight, and Paislee Babiczuk finished with seven.

Isla Urbanek led the Monarchs with five service aces. Masyn Inclan and Bre Defibaugh each had four. Inclan led the team with seven digs.

Eikleberry liked what she saw from her team out on the court.

“I think just focusing on each ball every time,” Eikleberry said about what impressed her Monday. “Not getting caught up in a silly little mistake. Just pushing and picking each other back up and getting that next point. We take it a point at a time, and I think just them working hard together. We moved great tonight. We had really great serves, and we got some really good swings in as well.”

Should Brooke defeat John Marshall on Wednesday, the two teams would play again that same night.

“I think we know what we need to work on,” Brooke head coach Dee Parr said. “We’re glad that we were able to advance to game three play, which will be on Wednesday against John Marshall, again. They were the winning team tonight, but we’re just thankful to be able to move on to the next round. And we know what we need to work on tomorrow at practice. And then we’re going to come back and hopefully that will fix some of the things that we didn’t do in first game with them tonight.”