PITSBURG – The Franklin-Monroe girls came out strong in their big match-up with visiting Tri-Village in volleyball action and came away with a convincing first set win 25-12 and then won the next two sets 26-24 and 25-23 to win the match.
The Jets jumped on top of Tri-Village early in the first set going up early 6-1 and then 12-2. Tri-Village coach Chris Brewer called consecutive timeouts trying to settle his team, but the Jets won the first set convincingly 25-12.
“It was a big game and we talked a lot this week about going big and trying to get up early on them, stay on top and frustrate them a little bit, and that worked for us in that first set,” Franklin-Monroe volleyball coach Angie Filbrun said.
The Patriots have been playing good volleyball and good teams don’t fold when times get tough and they battled for every point in the second set, but the Jets made the plays in the end to win it 26-24.
“There was a lot of excitement and energy on our side and the girls worked hard all night and it showed in that second set,” Filbrun stated.
F-M looked like they were going to run away in the final set, but the Patriots rallied midway and showed some energy and enthusiasm that was missing early in the contest. However, it was the Jets night as they prevailed winning the final set 25-23.
“I can’t say enough about our girls and the way they played tonight as a team,” Filbrun praised.
Franklin Monroe leaders were Chloe Peters (9 kills and 13 digs), Corina Conley (8 kills and 6 blocks), Chloe McGlinch (6 kills and 9 digs), Brigette Filbrun (19 digs and 13 assists), Kennedy Morris (13 assists) and Belle Cable (16 digs).
Tri-Village leaders were Abbi Lipps (17 serve points, 15 assists), Lucie Morris (13 assists), Maddie Downing (11 kills) and Meghan Downing (8 kills).
Tri-Village falls to 13-3 overall and 8-2 in the Cross County Conference and will host Bradford next Tuesday.
Franklin-Monroe improved to 13-4 overall and 7-2 in the conference and pulled in a tie for third place with Tri-Village two games behind league leading Miami East and one game in back of second place Arcanum.
“I’m really excited for what we’ve done this year,” Filbrun said. “Yes we’ve lost a couple of close games, this is a great group of girls and even though we aren’t going to win the league we have a lot yet to still play for and if we play strong like we did tonight we can make some noise in the tournament.”
Franklin Monroe is back in action next Tuesday when they host Newton.
