Panther volleyball remains tied for first with just two conference matches remaining.
On the week of Sept. 25, Bekah Brooks’ team faced a busy schedule, including a non-conference date with Murphy and Mountain Seven clashes with Pisgah and North Henderson. In 3-0 wins over Pisgah and North, Franklin improved to 9-1 in the conference, tying West Henderson for first heading into the last full week of the season.
On Monday, Sept. 25, the Panthers welcomed Murphy to Tom Raby Court. There, the Bulldogs sought to avenge Franklin’s 3-0 win in Murphy back in August, taking an early 14-9 lead despite two points from Panther junior Kyrah Bowles. Up 22-18, the Bulldogs seemed poised to steal the first set, but junior Ryan Green led Franklin on a 7-0 run to snatch a 25-22 win from the jaws of defeat.
Franklin carried their momentum into the second set, taking a commanding 11-3 lead following three points from junior Cali Queen. From there the set’s result was rarely in doubt, as the Panthers cruised to a 25-10 win with three Green points and two Bowles aces.
The third set started much the same as the second, with Franklin up 13-4 behind three points from senior Jocelyn Rios. From there Murphy regrouped to cut their deficit to 22-16, but the Panthers claimed the final three points including two from senior Talley Kinsland.
The next night, the Panthers returned to Tom Raby Court for a rematch of their 3-0 Mountain Seven win over Pisgah Aug. 31. With more than a hundred players and coaches from Macon County Youth Volleyball as honored guests, Franklin took a moment at the start of the match to recognize senior setter McCall Sanders, who recorded her 1,000th career assist Sept. 21 against Tuscola. Having been presented with a commemorative ball and a standing ovation from a packed house, Sanders said she was glad to set an example for the youth players in attendance.
“I’m just glad we did it this game with all the little girls and everybody being here,” she said after the match. “I’m so excited. I’ve worked so hard for it these past three years, and I definitely couldn’t have done it without my teammates from the past three years and these coaches.”
After honoring Sanders, Franklin started fast against the Black Bears, taking an early 15-9 lead behind strong team defense and two points apiece from Rios, Queen and Bowles. Despite a Pisgah timeout, the Panthers kept their foot on the gas for a 25-16 first-set win.
Franklin kept rolling into the second set, claiming its first eight points including a whopping six from Queen. By then their lead was simply too big for Murphy to erase, cruising to a 25-15 win behind two more points from Kinsland.
Down 2-0, Pisgah doubled their efforts to start the third, winning seven of the first 10 points to take a promising early lead. The Panthers quickly battled back however, claiming eight straight to turn the tables for an 11-7 advantage. Franklin never relinquished the lead again, winning 25-18 behind four points from freshman Audrey Pressley.
“It always feels good to beat Pisgah; definitely in this big week,” said Sanders.
Two nights later, Franklin returned to Tom Raby Court to rehash their razor-thin victory over North Henderson Sept. 5. Having beaten Franklin in the first set but dropped the last three by the minimum of two points each, North entered the rematch with a 7-2 conference record, just one game behind 8-1 co-leaders Franklin and West.
After a close start to the match, Franklin slowly pulled ahead in the first set, taking a 19-13 lead behind stellar defense from junior McKayla Sanders and seven points from junior Cali Queen. Just six Panther points from dropping the set, North quickly regrouped, claiming nine of the next 12 to tie the set at 22. As she’s done all season however, Queen came through for her team in its biggest moments, posting two straight kills to put Franklin up 24-22. Senior Talley Kinsland added another kill on set point to cement a razor-thin 25-23 win.
North still had not found an answer for Franklin’s hitters in the second, again falling behind 19-13 thanks to six more points from Queen and a strong all-around set on offense and defense from Kyrah Bowles. Again, North erased their deficit late, winning six of the next eight points and five of the last six to force a 25-25 dead heat. The comeback was not to be however, as the Knights hit two straight balls out of bounds to give Franklin a 27-25 second-set win.
The Panthers kept rolling in the third set, turning more strong defense from McKayla Sanders and four more points from Bowles into an 11-7 lead. Despite a brief Knight run to cut their deficit to 16-14, Franklin held their opponents at bay, getting four more points from Queen to put the set on ice 25-21.
“Our girls rose to the occasion,” said Brooks of the hard-fought victory. “I knew it was gonna be tough. We talk about those games being kind of like a dogfight, because it’s just on a point-for-point basis. The game is about mistakes, and you can’t dwell on those because it’s too quick of a turnaround, but I really felt like they played guts-out all night long, from Point 1 to the end of the third game.”
Sitting tied with West (who handed them their only loss this season) atop the Mountain Seven, Franklin entered the last week of their conference schedule controlling their own fate. While it would have been easy to look ahead to the rivals’ massive showdown Oct. 5, Brooks said the team couldn’t afford to discount their next two opponents.
“Robbinsville has only lost two games – they lost to us the first game of the season and they lost to Cherokee,” she said of Franklin’s non-conference match Oct. 2. “Traveling to Smoky [Mountain], that’s gonna be tough just because it’s at Smoky, and you can’t let your emotions take you somewhere else; you’ve got to be in the moment. … It’s a huge game on Thursday night, and we’re gonna do a Pink-Out. I know the girls know the importance of that game, but it really ends up just being a game, so I just want them to play like I know they can play and only control what they can control, and I think we’ll be fine.”