By Drew Terhall

Dailyadvocate.com

ARCANUM — The Franklin Monroe volleyball team competed well against a now 12-0 Dayton Christian team at home on September 16. Despite some good play by the Lady Jets, the Lady Warriors came away with the 3-0 win.

Head coach Angie Filbrun said even when Dayton Christian was leading, the team never backed down and kept being aggressive.

“They were a solid team. Their libero was very impressive. We played a great game. I told my girls even when we were down, it felt like we played from behind most of the night, we were still aggressive and still doing good things,” Filbrun said.

The Lady Jets came out stumbling in the first set. Dayton Christian made some nice hits and played in rhythm. Franklin Monroe was just a beat off from some balls that turned into points for the Lady Warriors.

Franklin Monroe lost the first set, 12-25. Filbrun said after that set, the team settled down and believed they could compete better in this match. After that, they played in two close sets.

“They decided, ‘You know what, we can do this.’ When we believe in ourselves, we do good things. Even though we didn’t win, I still feel like we did well,” Filbrun said.

The second set went back and forth as now team could grab the momentum early. The Lady Jets hit their stride when senior Presley Cox was behind the serving line.

All game long, Cox was a power threat from the outside and could get points with her serving. Filbrun was happy with her all around play in this match.

“Her (Cox) passing was solid, serving. All the way around, she was on her game,” Filbrun said.

Both teams continued to trade points before Dayton Christian started to make more plays late in the set to grab the lead. The Lady Warriors won the second set, 22-25.

It was more of the same in the third set. The two teams were locked in a close match with each point proving valuable.

Junior Alivia Addis was all over the court as she was doing a great job keeping the ball off the floor. Filbrun said when she has the confidence, Addis is a solid player for them.

“She played very well tonight. When she is confident, she does really good things. That third set, we took her out of that back row to give her a little break sometimes. That helped tremendously too. She came in there, then she was confident. She got that little breather to sit down and say, ‘Okay, I can do this.’ She played well, she was very aggressive,” Filbrun said.

Franklin Monroe didn’t use their first timeout until it was a 19-20 set in favor of Dayton Christian. Both teams weren’t giving the other an edge in the third set.

But like in the second set, the Lady Warriors just made the extra play or two to grab the 22-25 win.

The Lady Jets were a few plays away from extending the match. But, they still played a great game regardless against a really good Dayton Christian team.

They are now 6-6 on the season with a 4-0 WOAC record. They will be at Bradford on September 17 for a 5:30 p.m. start. They will then hit the road again for a game at Tri-County North on September 19 at 5:30 p.m.

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