By Drew Terhall

Dailyadvocate.com

ANSONIA — It was a tournament type battle at Ansonia on Oct. 3. The home volleyball team Lady Tigers lost in a close five set battle to Franklin Monroe, 3-2.

The win for the Lady Jets snapped a four game losing streak as they took on the top half of the league during that stretch. Head coach Angie Filbrun said it was great to see the team fight through some mistakes to find ways to get this win over a very good Ansonia team.

“That felt good. These last couple of weeks have been rough. We dug ourselves into a hole, I think it’s been four or five that we’ve lost in a row. To come out with a win tonight, I’m very proud of the girls,” Filbrun said.

For Ansonia, they are keeping their heads held high after this one. Ansonia assistant coach Lexi Evak said even though they couldn’t come away with the win, there were a lot of positives to take away from this close match. It was a match both teams can walk away from feeling better about themselves.

“We talked about in the locker room that we didn’t take tonight as a loss. We saw so many high moments and low moments. I feel like we had more high moments. The effort was there and the energy was there, we just fell short,” Evak said.

Franklin Monroe held an early lead in the first set before Ansonia stormed back to take a 13-11 lead. From that point forward, it was all Lady Tigers.

Senior Gabby Leeper and junior Lydia Hahn both sparked runs with their serving. With the Lady Jets defense all over the place, the Lady Tigers were able to finish off their attacks. Ansonia won the first set, 25-15.

Then is was a close battle in the second set. Both teams couldn’t get out to a lead bigger than three points in the set. Ansonia held the slim lead late as Franklin Monroe was battling to avoid going down 0-2.

Seniors Layni Ressler and Addie Bauman were doing all they can in the back row to keep the point alive for them. The hard work paid off as the Lady Jets forced extra points and fought their way to a very late lead.

Down 26-25, the Lady Jets got the last three points of the set to win the second set 28-26.

Filbrun said it’s always a close game when they go to Ansonia. It felt good to grab this kind of win in the second set.

“They were so excited to be here tonight. So pumped because they know every time we come to Ansonia, they’re going to give us a game. Their defense is incredible. They did an excellent job of picking up so much stuff,” Filbrun said. “That first set, we just kind of laid down. I’m not even sure what happened. But that second set brought so much momentum and we were able to finish and move forward.”

The third set was more of the same. Players were diving everywhere to give their team a chance at the point at hand. Franklin Monroe seniors Presley Cox and Allie Muhlenkamp were swinging away all match long. Ansonia’s front line did a great job getting their hands on those attack and allowing Hahn and Leeper to get to those balls.

Juniors Olivia Schmitmeyer and Camryn Winner were able to finish off enough attacks to give Ansonia a 25-23 win in set three.

The fighting spirit from Franklin Monroe carried over to the fourth set. The Lady Jets grabbed another early lead and kept it for most of the set.

They did a great job staying controlled and not allowing Ansonia to climb back into the set early on. They raced out a big lead and were looking like they would cruise to the set win. But, the Lady Tigers didn’t go away.

Ansonia clawed their way to a run to force a Franklin Monroe timeout. After being down 23-16, it was a 24-21 game. Ansonia couldn’t pick up enough points at the end to force extra points. Franklin Monroe shut the door on Ansonia to win the fourth set 25-22 to go into a fifth set.

From there, Franklin Monroe grabbed a lead and didn’t trail. Ansonia tied the set multiple times, but couldn’t get that one point to take a lead.

Both teams played with a lot of intensity in the fifth set. But, Franklin Monroe was able to dig deep and find a way to leave Ansonia with the win. The Lady Jets won the last set, 15-12, to end their losing streak.

Both teams will find out their tournament fate on Oct. 6 as the brackets will be released that afternoon. Evak said this type of game will help them come tournament time.

“We are going to try to use this a motivation and to help us grow. Even though we lost and it hurt, we’re going to try and take the good away, grow and use that as motivation as we go into tournaments,” Evak said.

Filbrun said this is what she wants to see from her team as tournament time is right around the corner. The team chemistry is strong right now and they gained a lot of confidence coming away with this win.

“Even when you make mistakes, you can pick yourself back up. Volleyball is a huge momentum game as we saw tonight. If you give a little bit, they take it. We get a little bit and we take it. It’s back and forth. To get that solid win and for our kids to grab that confidence, very proud of them,” Filbrun said.

Franklin Monroe is now 9-10 on the season with a 7-4 WOAC record. Ansonia is now 10-10 with a 6-3 WOAC record. Both teams could face each other again in the Division VI Sectional Tournament.

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