By Drew Terhall

DailyAdvocate.com

ARCANUM — Franklin Monroe High School lost in a close match to undefeated Newton High School at home. The Lady Jets gave Newton all they could handle, but just couldn’t get the set wins.

“We knew it was going to be a battle. We just wanted to give them a great game and I thought we did that. We played very well,” head coach Angie Filbrun said.

The first set was a close one. Both teams went back and forth and couldn’t separate themselves from the other. Eventually, Newton went out to a 20-15 lead.

Franklin Monroe didn’t lie down. They came back to tie it at 20. However, Newton took over and went on their own 5-0 run to win the set, 25-20.

The second set started out in Franklin Monroe’s favor. They jumped out to an 11-3 lead. But, Newton is undefeated for a reason.

Newton battled back and eventually took a 19-18 lead late in the second set. They were able to force the Lady Jets into some errors and got some timely kills. Franklin Monroe fought back and won the set 25-23.

The third set was one to forget by Franklin Monroe. Newton looked close to flawless in the set as they jumped out to a 10-2 lead and never let go. Newton got the job done and won the third set 25-13.

The fourth set went about the same as the first set. Both teams went back and forth, trying to get momentum. Eventually, Newton found that bit of momentum to get a small lead.

The Lady Jets kept it close, but couldn’t stop Newton when they needed to. Franklin Monroe didn’t have a lot of attacking errors, but they had just enough that it mattered in the set. Newton won the set 25-20 and took the match, 3-1.

Franklin Monroe had their chances and took advantage of them. They had times where they got Newton out of their system and got the easy kills. The Lady Jets forced Newton to make the perfect play. Newton were able to make enough of those plays to win the match.

Filbrun said she is proud of her team’s effort in the game. This type of game later in the season can help this team be better prepared for postseason play.

“(This game) will prep us for tournaments. Hopefully, we’ll be ready to battle through whatever comes our way. It seems crazy that we’re talking tournaments already, but here we go,” Filbrun said.

Newton is now 15-0 on the season. If them and Preble Shawnee stay undefeated until Sept. 28, they will play that day to be the last remaining undefeated team.

Franklin Monroe is 10-5 on the season with a 5-2 conference record. They still sit as a top five team in the WOAC. They will have two non-conference matchups until they travel to Tri-Village on Sept. 27.

Contact Daily Advocate sports editor Drew Terhall at [email protected]