It was a good week for Panther volleyball.
After suffering their first loss of the season to West Henderson days before, on the week of Sept. 18 Bekah Brooks’ team faced another busy slate. In 3-0 wins over Swain and Mountain Seven foes Tuscola and East Henderson, Franklin improved to 14-1 overall and 7-1 in the conference, where they ended the week in a tie with West for first.
On Monday, Sept. 18, the team welcomed Swain to Tom Raby Court for a midseason nonconference matchup. Despite strong opposition Franklin built an early lead, forcing a Maroon Devil timeout up 13-7 behind tough defense from McCall Sanders and two points apiece from Cali Queen and Emma Ledford.
After talking things over with coaches Swain looked like a different team, scoring five straight points to cut their deficit to 13-12. The Panthers would hold firm however, turning two kills apiece from Kyrah Bowles and Jocelyn Rios into a 25-19 first-set win.
Franklin stayed red-hot into the second, forcing a Swain timeout up 9-2 behind four more points from Bowles. From there they maintained a comfortable lead, turning multiple points from four different Panthers into a 25-12 rout.
Franklin carried this momentum well into the third, taking a commanding 20-12 lead behind airtight defense and an ace from McKayla Sanders. With their backs against the wall, Swain suddenly kicked into gear, claiming 11 of the next 14 points to force a 23-23 dead heat. The Panthers stayed cool under pressure however, getting a kill from Ryan Green and a Swain net fault violation to cement a 25-23 win.
After dispatching Swain, the next night the Panthers traveled to East Henderson for a Mountain Seven conference rematch of their 3-0 home victory Aug. 24. Much like the teams’ first meeting, Franklin clearly outmatched the rebuilding Eagles, winning the first two sets 25-12, 25-10. Down 2-0, East turned in a stronger effort in the final set, but ultimately fell 25-18 to end the match.
After routing East, on Thursday, Sept. 21 the Panthers once again boarded the team bus for their second Mountain Seven match of the week. In a rematch of their convincing win over Tuscola Aug. 29, the Panthers took care of business once again, cruising to another 3-0 victory.
“I know Tuscola has struggled with some injuries, so they’ve had to pull some girls back and forth,” said Brooks. “The good thing is I got a lot of people some playing time this week, and they’ve been able to play a few different positions, which has been fun. In the East game, we just took care of business; it was not very exciting. With Tuscola though, I really wanted them to bring their own energy and let it be what they wanted it to be, and they did.”
In resounding M7 victories over Tuscola and East, the Panthers moved into a first-place tie with West Henderson at 7-1, just one game ahead of 6-2 North Henderson.
After beating North 3-1 in Hendersonville Sept. 5, Franklin will host the Knights on Tom Raby Court Sept. 28. Should the Panthers win that match, their Oct. 5 regular-season finale with West would likely decide the conference championship. West defeated Franklin 25-22, 25-21, 19-25, 25-21 in Hendersonville Sept. 12.
In addition to their standing in the conference, Thursday’s match held personal significance for the Panthers, as one of their best players achieved an impressive career milestone.
“In that game, McCall Sanders got her 1,000th assist,” said Brooks of the rock-solid senior setter. “She’s played on varsity since she was a sophomore, and when you play well and you win and you go deep in the playoffs and the conference tournament, it allows kids to reach that. ... She knew it was soon but she didn’t know it was gonna happen last night, and I called a timeout and stopped the game, so it was a lot of fun.”