It’s been a busy week for Panther volleyball.
After winning their first nine matches of the season, on the week of Sept. 11 Franklin faced their toughest test yet.
On Sept. 11, the Panthers welcomed Hayesville to Tom Raby Court for the two teams’ second meeting of the season. After honoring local first responders in observance of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, the Panthers looked sharp to start the match, turning four points from junior Emma Ledford into an early 9-4 lead. From there the set’s outcome was rarely in doubt, as Franklin cruised to a 25-16 win behind three kills from junior Cali Queen.
Hayesville regrouped in the second set, falling behind 9-6 but growing red-hot to force a Panther timeout, up 17-13. When Hayesville reached set point up 24-21, the match seemed destined for a 1-1 tie, but Franklin won the next three thanks to two kills from Queen and a diving save by Ryan Green. After another Queen kill put the Panthers up 26-25, Green completed the improbable comeback with a match-point ace.
Having let the second set slip through their fingers, Hayesville looked deflated in the third, falling behind 12-6 thanks to two points apiece from Ledford, Green and Kyrah Bowles. By then Franklin seemed in total control, turning four kills from Ella Brinson into a 25-12 rout.
“That was a fun night with the ceremony for 9/11, and the girls really took that to heart,” said Brooks. “We talked about that day and what people went through, and we got to honor the people in our county that risk their lives every day, so that was really, really touching. Then, we took care of business when it came gametime. Hayesville’s good – I think they’re struggling a little bit right now with leadership, but they’re very well-coached – and we handled that and took care of business.”
The next night, the Panthers traveled to West Henderson for a critical Mountain Seven Conference matchup. As one of Franklin’s two chief rivals for control of the conference along with North Henderson, the 3-1 Falcons had been circled on the Panthers’ calendar since the offseason.
In an uncomfortably hot, sweaty gym, Franklin looked like the first-place team early, getting two kills apiece from Green and Bowles to force a Falcon timeout, up 19-13. West quickly turned the tables however, going on a red-hot 11-2 run to bring about match point, up 24-21. Despite a Green kill cutting West’s lead to two, Franklin couldn’t recreate their second-set comeback over Hayesville and fell 25-22.
The Panthers regrouped to begin the next game, again turning two points apiece from Green and Bowles into a 13-10 lead. Again, West improved down the stretch however, winning 25-21 despite two more points from Queen.
Down two sets to none, Franklin played with a purpose in the third, turning excellent team defense and three points apiece from Queen and Green into a commanding 18-9 lead. Despite a 9-5 Falcon run to get back into striking distance, 23-18, a match-point kill from Bowles put the set on ice 25-19.
Bolstered by their third-set win, Franklin nearly kept pace with West to start the fourth, trailing by one, down 16-15 following three points from Jocelyn Rios. When two Queen kills tied the set at 20, the Panthers seemed poised to extend the match, but West claimed five of the last six points to win the set 25-21.
“We did a lot of good things. We were beating them pretty bad in the first game, and just let too many mistakes snowball and let them catch back up and win that first set,” said Brooks. “All the sets were close, but I try to look at it like this, and this is what I talked about at practice on Wednesday – they only beat us by nine points in four games. … Against a good team, you’ve just got to ignore [the score] and claw your way back and finish the set. We came up short, and that’s OK. A lot of times you learn a lot more from a loss than you do from 10 wins.”
In their first loss of the season, Franklin’s conference record dropped to 5-1, where they sat tied with West atop the conference at week’s end. The rivals will meet again in Franklin’s last regular-season match Oct. 5, which will likely decide the conference championship if both teams hold off 4-1 North.
On Thursday, Sept. 14, the team returned to Franklin for a non-conference match with Rabun Gap. In front of a packed house of fans from both sides, the Panthers looked sharp against a strong Eagle team, building a 13-9 lead behind three points from Queen. The junior put on a clinic throughout the set, scoring six of Franklin’s final seven points in a 25-18 win.
The Panthers stayed hot into the second, building a 5-0 advantage to force an early Eagle timeout. Franklin pressed their advantage from there, getting five points from senior Jocelyn Rios en route to a 25-14 rout.
By the third set, momentum was clearly on Franklin’s side, with three Bowles points giving them a commanding 12-4 lead. The match’s outcome was never truly in doubt from there, as the home team cruised to another 25-14 win.
“They brought a lot of energy and they’ve gotten better over the years, so that was a lot of fun,” said Brooks of Rabun Gap. “A bunch of our girls know them and have played travel ball with them and stuff, so it really got started early that morning with some good old back-to-the-old-days trash talk, but it was a lot of fun just to be able to play them. You always want to play good teams, and they are, so that was enjoyable. I’m glad we pulled it out in three, and I thought we rose to the occasion hitting some bombs, blocking some balls and just playing really smart and energetic. It was a good way to end a long week.”
Having ended the week with an 11-1 overall record, the Panthers reached the halfway point of their season as one of the top teams in the 3A West. In playing their first 10 matches of the season without a loss, Brooks credited her team for their composure under pressure, and said that experience will only help them in the second leg of their conference schedule.
“We’ve talked about diamonds and how they have to go through immense pressure, immense heat and acquire their own cuts. That’s what they’re getting right now,” she said of her message to the team. “They’re getting a lot of pressure, especially when we didn’t have any losses. The heat’s coming because people just want to beat you, and you’re being cut in different directions with school and this and that and the girls [on Franklin’s Homecoming Court] and whatnot. So, can you take it? We want them all to be diamonds because their worth is not just in volleyball, but in life in general and being good people – to be good on campus and on the floor. There’s a lot more to it than a record, but I think they’ve handled themselves very well.”