By Drew Terhall

Dailyadvocate.com

ARCANUM — After losing back to back games, the Mississinawa Valley volleyball team got back on track with a sweep over a talented Franklin Monroe team, 3-0, on the road on Sept. 30.

Mississinawa Valley head coach Nancy Whitted said it was great to see her team come out this game ready to go and ready to play up to the standard they set for themselves this season.

“It was nice to come back and play like we did tonight. Like I know that we can. We showed up and we were the team that we’ve always have been. It seemed like the last couple of games were like I don’t know this team,” Whitted said.

For the Lady Jets, they couldn’t shrug off a slow start. Franklin Monroe head coach Angie Filbrun said Mississinawa Valley brought the fight to them and it took too long for them to respond.

“We just could not find our energy tonight. They kept us on our heels and we just couldn’t get anything rolling. Third set, we finally were able to get some stuff going and create some out of system on their side. It was just too late,” Filbrun said.

The first set was all Mississinawa Valley as they won 25-13. Strong serving from the Lady Blackhawks gave them the lead early and they held on the rest of the way.

The Lady Jets came out and played better in the second half. They kept it close throughout the set and showed they were not going to back down.

The Lady Blackhawks eventually found their rhythm and started to separate themselves from the the Lady Jets. Their strong hitting had Franklin Monroe out of system for the first two sets.

Filbrun said Mississinawa Valley has a strong offense with hitters that will hit right to your face. The Lady Jets couldn’t do much against it the first two sets.

Then the third set was a battle. Franklin Monroe came out with a different energy and held onto an early lead.

The offense started to get Mississinawa Valley out of sorts and they were making plays to keep the point alive. Mississinawa Valley burned through two timeouts early as their last one came when the Lady Jets held a 17-13 lead.

But the Lady Blackhawks weren’t going to give up the set easily. They came out of the timeout and went on a 4-0 run to tie the set. Whitted said this was a match everyone stepped up big in, especially in the third set.

Junior Makenna Hoggatt and junior Allyson Waymire were trading kills with Franklin Monroe seniors Presley cox and Allie Muhlenkamp. Neither team was ready to for the set to end.

The serving for the Lady Blackhawks helped them get back into the last set and helped them get this sweep. In extra points, the Lady Blackhawks held off the Lady Jets to win the set 26-24.

It was a tournament type game right before tournament draw takes place. On Oct. 6, teams will learn where they fall on the bracket.

Whitted said the losses to Ansonia and Troy Christian the last two games can help the team realize that anything can happen in a match.

“Them knowing that anything can happen and any team can comeback is going to help them in the postseason,” Whitted said.

For Franklin Monroe, they have a week’s worth of tournament games. They will host Arcanum on Oct. 1 and then head to Ansonia on Oct. 3. Filbrun said the team knows they have to come out ready to go this week, but they are mainly focusing on getting better each day.

“We have to get better. Tomorrow is a new game. Our thing right now is one percent better. Can you be one percent better. We have to come out, we have to be ready to go,” Filbrun said.

Both games for the Lady Jets will start off with the JV at 5:30 p.m. Mississinawa Valley will play a WOAC match at Tri-County North on Oct. 1 starting at 5:30 p.m.

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