History was made on Tom Raby Court last week.
After opening their inaugural season with a win at Enka, on the week of March 18 Panther men’s volleyball returned home, hosting Enka, T.C. Roberson and the Invest Collegiate Imagine School. In routing I.C. Imagine, Franklin’s newest athletic team earned their first-ever home win.
Having beaten Enka 10 days before by the slimmest of margins, 25-21, 25-23; on March 19 Franklin rematched the Jets in the first home match in program history. In front of a large crowd on Tom Raby Court, Enka seemed out for revenge early on, taking the lead 11-4 despite a kill from junior Brayden Hervey. Franklin slowly clawed their way back however, getting several more kills from Hervey and sophomore Miguel Ortega. After a kill from junior Braylen Dezarn, Franklin trailed just 24-23, but Enka won the final point to claim the first set.
Both teams looked evenly matched in the second, sitting tied at 14 after two more kills from Hervey. When a 9-4 run gave Enka the lead 23-18, Franklin seemed in danger of dropping the set, but won six of the next seven points including two from senior David Rubio. In a dead heat tied at 24, Enka dropped three of the final four to hand Franklin the win, 27-25.
Seemingly upset at their second-set collapse, the Jets redoubled their efforts in the third, taking an early 5-1 lead and maintaining it the rest of the way. Despite another strong set from Dezarn, Franklin fell 25-15.
Enka stayed hot in the fourth, taking a commanding lead 22-12 despite two more Rubio points. With their backs against the wall Franklin mounted a furious comeback, but had too much ground to make up and ultimately fell 25-21.
“It was very competitive; they were a good team, and we did some good things,” said head coach Bekah Brooks of the match. “The only thing we did not do well was serving – we missed a lot of serves. We’ve really focused on serving, getting to base [defensive positions] and transitioning off the net, which is still a weak point for us. I think if we would have made more of our serves and stopped giving Enka points, we could have won those games.”
After the loss to Enka, four days later the team returned to Tom Raby Court for a Saturday round-robin with I.C. Imagine and T.C. Roberson. In their first match of the day with Imagine, the Panthers faced little resistance, turning two kills apiece from Aaron Bravo and Peyton Hervey into a commanding lead. A set-point ace by freshman Michael Strange gave Franklin the win, 25-8.
Freshman Jake Pendergrass looked sharp in the second set, posting two points including an ace to put his team up 8-3. From there Franklin cruised to another 25-8 win.
Following an hourlong break for the Imagine-Roberson match, Franklin retook the court against the much more talented Rams. There, both teams stayed neck-and-neck in the early goings, with Franklin trailing 17-16 after Brayden Hervey’s fourth kill of the set. Roberson heated up down the stretch however, winning 25-20 despite a tough shot from Avery Carpenter.
The second set started much the same as the first, with both teams tied at 16 after several more kills from Brayden Hervey and Ortega. Again, Roberson played their best when it mattered most, winning 25-22 despite two more points from Ortega.
“I saw a lot of effort, and I saw many things that we practiced after the last game that they excelled on,” said Brooks after the round-robin. “This sounds bad, but we played a little bit of a weaker team in the beginning, and then you’re playing a [school] that’s had a team for a while, so that was a big switch that we had to flip. There’s much more room to grow, but the ones that are coming out here, practicing a few days a week and going to these games are really shining and they’re really growing each game, and that’s what’s fun to watch. We’re a totally different team from the first time we played until now, which is fun, and I hope with the last part of the season it’ll be the same.”
While men’s volleyball has yet to be sanctioned as a varsity sport by the N.C. High School Athletic Association, the country’s fastest-growing men’s high school sport keeps gaining momentum. After the first week of home matches in team history, one of its best players says he wants to keep building the program’s footprint.
“I think it’s awesome – I love it. If we win, maybe we can get a bigger crowd,” said Brayden Hervey of the team’s already well-attended matches. “We’ve improved tremendously; we just need to keep improving our receiving serve, our passing and our setting. We’ve still got things to work on, but we’ve come a long way.”