Panther JV volleyball is the champion of the Mountain Seven Conference.
After falling to West Henderson in last year’s conference final, Franklin entered the fall season on a mission, racking up the Mountain Seven’s best record at 20-1. At the conference tournament in Sylva Oct. 17-18, Cindy Christie’s team formalized their M7 title, ending their season with resounding wins over Smoky Mountain and Pisgah.
On Tuesday, Oct. 17, the Panthers traveled to Smoky Mountain for a date with the tournament hosts. With an 8-12 record including a 6-6 mark in the conference, the Mustangs entered the match as underdogs having twice lost to Franklin in the regular season.
Despite this, Smoky punched above their weight early on, looking evenly matched with the Panthers through the first several points. Gradually, Franklin pulled away however, getting a kill from sophomore Ashlynn McConnell to go up 16-8 and force a Mustang timeout. The Panthers cruised to a 25-13 win behind tough defense from Shelby Adams and kills from Meliah Mason and Kamden Reis.
The Mustangs regrouped before the second set, matching Franklin through the first several points to tie the game at 5. Again, the Panthers slowly pulled ahead, getting three more points from McConnell to force a Smoky timeout, up 13-10.
The Mustangs refused to go quietly however, matching Franklin nearly point-for-point despite two straight kills from Mason. Down just 24-22 on match point, Smoky seemed poised to extend the set, but another Mason kill got Franklin to the magic number 25.
The next night, the Panthers returned to Sylva for the Mountain Seven final versus Pisgah. As the only team to beat Franklin this regular season, the Black Bears defeated West Henderson 2-1 in the semis, setting up a much-anticipated fight for the conference title.
“We always watch our game film and get prepared just to try to see, ‘What are some of the things that we need to watch for defensively?’” said Christie of getting ready for the talented Bears. “Offensively, we’re gonna play our game. It doesn’t matter who we’re playing; offensively, we’re going to play the way that we’ve always played, because that’s worked for us. Defensively, we’re gonna see what they’re doing and how we need to adjust our defense to be able to shut them down.”
The Panthers’ preparation seemed to bear fruit in Set 1, with points from McConnell, Adams and Reis giving Franklin an early 10-3 lead. Pisgah soon kicked into gear however, winning seven of the next eight points to cut their deficit to 11-10.
After talking things over in a timeout, Franklin quickly regained control, winning five straight points including two off serves by Reis. Sophomore Carrie Holland helped keep Pisgah at bay from there, posting a save and a block on defense en route to a 25-20 win.
The Bears returned the favor to begin the second set, claiming seven of the first 10 points to force an early Panther timeout. Again, Franklin got a second wind however, tying the set at 12 behind two points apiece from McConnell, Mason and Danni Ledford. Despite a Pisgah timeout, the Panthers kept rolling, getting two more kills and a save from Ledford to help clinch the title 25-20.
“I think we only missed one serve in two games against Pisgah in the Championship, so that was really good,” said Christie. “It doesn’t matter if it’s the first game or the final game; it always feels good to beat Pisgah.”
In capturing the conference title, Wednesday’s match served as a culmination of a stellar two-year run for the team, including just two regular-season losses and two trips to the Conference Final. Along with a 17-0 campaign by Macon Middle and a regular-season conference title for Panther varsity, the JV Tournament Championship capped a banner year for the program, which Christie says is anything but a coincidence.
“I’m gonna be honest: there may be – may be – some high school teams out there that possibly put in as much work as we do during the offseason, but I’d like to see them,” she said. “Once the state tells us that we’re allowed to have practice or we’re allowed to have workouts, we’re doing it, and the good thing is that we have girls that buy into what we’re doing and buy into what we’re trying to accomplish. There are times where we don’t even have a regulated practice, and they’re calling us saying, ‘Hey, we need keys to get into the weight room. We need keys to get into the gym, we want to go get some hits, we want to go get some serving in.’ … That is the biggest thing, is we just have girls that want to get better day in and day out.”