The regular season draws near for Panther JV volleyball.
For most of the past several weeks, Cindy Christie’s team has been hard at work, bringing this year’s freshmen into the fold and preparing for the fall campaign. On July 26 the Panthers traveled to Smoky Mountain for a day of scrimmages with WNC rivals, giving players one last chance to impress coaches ahead of team tryouts July 31.
In their first scrimmage of the day, Franklin faced event host and Mountain Seven Conference archrival Smoky, whom they beat in straight sets in both regular-season meetings last year. Again, the Panthers impressed in the first half of the 30-minute scrimmage, making strong passes and sets while experimenting with several different lineups. While the team’s rotations are far from a finished product this time of year, several well-placed serves by freshman Dani Ledford helped Franklin ultimately outplay their rivals.
Just five minutes later, the Panthers met a familiar foe in FHS Class of 2021 grad Rylee Corbin, now entering her second season as Highlands’ JV head coach. While coaches said it’s still strange to see Corbin in blue and yellow, the Panthers wasted little time to start the scrimmage, outplaying their cross-county rivals in all areas of the court. After an excellent summer for Panther basketball, multi-sport freshman Audrey Pressley looked sharp throughout the period.
In their next scrimmage, the Panthers met their second M7C rival of the day in Tuscola, whom Franklin beat in both regular-season matches last year. Despite having just six players and no substitutes on hand, the Mountaineers gave Franklin their toughest test to that point, with both teams looking evenly matched early on. With roughly 10 minutes remaining, Tuscola went on a mini-run, but the Panthers answered with a run of their own to force a Mountie timeout with three minutes to play. The scrimmage set the stage for an intriguing conference matchup Aug. 29 on Tom Raby Court.
Five minutes after that, Franklin retook the court against Hayesville, whom they beat in straight sets in both regular-season meetings last year. The Panthers largely controlled the early goings, backing up strong blocking at the net with well-placed sets and serves from the back row. Despite a brief Yellow Jacket run roughly halfway through the period, Franklin closed out the scrimmage with multiple kills from Pressley.
In their last matchup of the day, Franklin locked horns with the Andrews Wildcats, whom they did not meet in the 2022 regular season. After winning four of the first five points, the Panthers continued to dominate the period, winning many of their points on aces without Andrews even returning serve.
After their full day of scrimmages at Smoky, the Panthers had just one more day of practice ahead of team tryouts July 31, the first official day of the N.C. High School Athletic Association fall season. The team travels to Robbinsville Aug. 14, the first day of NCHSAA fall contests.