Franklin County’s varsity volleyball Wildcats took the first two sets against Milan 25-19 and 25-17. The Lady Indians responded to claim sets three and four, 25-21 and 25-19. The fifth set tiebreaker went to Franklin County 15-8 to win the match 3-2.
“We came out ready to play,” said Franklin County coach Jill Mergenthal. “The girls were serving and hitting the ball very well in the first two sets. During sets three and four, Milan made a couple of changes to their lineup and serve receive became factor. Those sets went to the Indians.”
“Going into set five, we always try to have the ‘fight’ mindset,” noted Mergenthal. “We did for sure. We lost the coin toss and started in serve receive where we quickly sided out. That’s when we served nine points in a row with four of those serves being aces by senior Saige Mergenthal. This was a huge team effort to keep each volley awarded back to us and allowing the serving streak to continue. This is the mindset ‘fight’ we strive for each and every match. After siding out, that put the score at 10-1. This is just another one of those proud coach moments which made the win so much sweeter.”
Franklin County reported stats:
- Saige Mergenthal- 7 aces, 5 kills, 1 solo block and 1 dig
- Kassisdy Schell- 2 aces, 16 kills, 1 solo block, 1 block, 4 assists and 9 digs
- Hadlee Hornsby- 1 ace, 1 kill and 13 digs
- Meredith Hoff- 6 kills, 1 solo block, 2 blocks, 2 assists and 3 digs
- Kensee Ferman- 4 kills
- Veronica Reeves- 2 kills, 1 block, 2 assists and 1 dig
- Kacie Williams- 11 assists and 8 digs
- Lauren Stacy- 1 assist and 5 digs
- Kylie Lea- 6 digs
- Stephanie Billman- 7 digs
Franklin County also won the JV match 25-17 and 25-12.
“This is a very proud coach moment as the girls are finally learning the dig deep and fight concept,” said Franklin County assistant coach Tana Stang. “Our serves are what contributed most to our win. Many girls served multiple hard serves in a row to get the win.”
Franklin County JV reported stats:
- Cydney Morehead- 6 kills and 4 digs
- Tiffany Billman- 5 aces, 5 digs and 1 kill
- Daphne Stokes- 3 aces
- Stephanie Billman- 5 assists and 1 dig
- Lauren Stacy- 1 kill and 1 dig
- Piper Twiggs- 2 digs and 1 kill
- Vivian Silas- 1 kill
- Kristen Ison- 1 assist
We thank coaches Mergenthal and Stang for the information.