Poise and patience prevail in Franklin's win over C-L

Clarion Limestone came out swinging. They put Franklin in their place early on and then weathered a comeback. C-L led most of the way but then fell behind 24-21 before going on a five point run to close out the first set 26-24.

C-L then started hot again in the second but this time Franklin got a handle on their game to take the lead and kept to win that set 25-21. Franklin then just stayed out in front of C-L to take the next two sets 25-21, and 25-20.

Prior to Tuesday's match coach Matt Jones shared some of his thoughts on this year's squad.

He said the team is more experienced with players having played together since they were freshmen and sophomores, but in need of filling a key loss at  outside hitter. 

"Last year we had senior Kyla Hart on the team.  She was our number one outside hitter which we will need to replace.  We did not have Sydni Hoobler last season and are excited to have her back on the roster this year," Jones said.
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​Hoobler joins juniors at outside hitter Jennifer Blum and Rilee Hanna and senior McKenzie McFadden in the middle along with junior Jamie Blum and sophomore Abby Boland.

Gabby LaJeunesse will play liber and senior Sydney May will be setting up the hitters.

Juniors Estella Adams, Autumn Fitzgerald and Jada Reavis round out the very athletic squad for Jones.

"I am hoping a few sophomores will continue to improve during the season and join the varsity roster," Jones added.

"Our goal for this year is to reach the playoffs.  There are 11 teams in our region and district 10 took the top 4 to the district playoff last year.  This is a realistic goal for us.  I feel the top teams will be Saegertown who just moved up from single A and Sharpsville, who is the returning region champs.  Reynolds and Greenville got the third and fourth spots last year."
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​Franklin gets a chance to face several teams this weekend as they host their own tournament on Saturday.

A report from Maplewood as they cruised through Eisenhower 25-7, 25-3 and 25-9. Maplewood had 24 aces.
Sadie Thomas had 9 kills and 8 aces,
Bailey Varndell had 20 assists and 6 aces.
Elizabeth Hunter had7 kills.
McKenna Crawford had 12 digs and 4 aces.