Even after losing to Coppell on Tuesday, Marcus volleyball coach Cristie Liles is excited about her team’s chances in this year’s Class 5A playoff race.

    Marcus (26-16 overall) will open the postseason against either Colleyville Heritage or Justin Northwest next week. As of press time, their opponent wasn’t set in stone because of a pending coin flip with Southlake Carroll and Coppell for the final three placings in District 6-5A.

    “I think second place is the better route to go in this year’s playoffs and we had a chance to take care of business and control our own fate,” Liles said following Tuesday’s 25-18, 21-25, 21-25, 19-25 loss to the Cowboys. “But it is what it is, and I think we are really starting to get things together.”

    Tuesday’s loss was the team’s first since Oct. 9 as they went from a 2-3 record in the first half of the league schedule to 4-1 down the stretch to get themselves into a chance to vie for second place. In the end, however, all three teams finished with identical 6-4 records even though the Marauders beat Carroll both times this season. They had a chance to do the same to Coppell until Tuesday.

    “I just felt we were out paced,” Liles said. “We played hard but we didn’t take advantage of the opportunities we had and we didn’t play that smart. We were in playoffs no matter what, but now it’s down to a coin flip.”

    Lauren Douglas finished with 10 kills while Haley Neisler added three blocks. Mary Koehler had 11 digs, out done only by teammate Katy Neisler – who had 17 digs on the night. Mallory Sando had 26 assists to round out the top stat getters.

    Marcus returns six players from a year ago, two of which saw significant playing time for a team that finished 32-13. They also come into this season having advanced to the third round of playoffs the last two years.

    “We are making better adjustments out there right now,” Liles said. “We’ll see what happens, we made our bed and it’s time to sleep in it and see where we go from here.”