<p>Though the Franklin volleyball team lost four of five matches at the end of the week, coach Roxie Chapman felt as though the squad was making significant progress.</p>
<p>On Tuesday, those efforts bore some fruit, as the Grizzly Cubs ended their mini-drought by making quick work of visiting Whiteland, 25-13, 25-16, 25-11.</p>
<p>Franklin had dropped three of its four matches in a weekend tournament at Providence on Saturday after losing at rival Center Grove last week.</p>
<p>"We played really great competition, and we got better by the end of the day," Chapman said of last week. "With such a new team, that’s what I need for this year. We stayed with all of those teams the whole time, so I wasn’t upset with any of it.</p>[sc:text-divider text-divider-title="Story continues below gallery" ]Click here to purchase photos from this gallery
<p>"I felt like in the end, we got better, and I knew coming into tonight, with a great practice yesterday, that we’d be fine."</p>
<p>Though the Grizzly Cubs (5-5, 4-0) never trailed in the opening set, the Warriors got as close as 8-7 early before the hosts pulled away by scoring 10 of the next 13 points. Kabria Chapman had three kills during that stretch, which was punctuated by an ace from Abby Nagel.</p>
<p>Whiteland (2-11, 0-3) took a 1-0 lead to start the second, but Franklin countered with the next four points to again take the lead for good, rolling out to a 15-5 advantage. The Warriors cut it to seven on a kill and two aces from Sarah Scott, but they got no closer than that and the Grizzly Cubs finished the game off with a pair of Emilee Rector kills.</p>
<p>In set number three, Nagel staked Franklin a quick 8-1 lead with seven straight points, including two more aces. Whiteland battled back midway through, getting as close as 15-11 on a Lindsey Jones ace, before the Grizzly Cubs responded with 10 consecutive points, ending the match with a Megan Thompson ace and a Chapman block.</p>
<p>Kabria Chapman had 13 kills to lead the Grizzly Cubs, while Cami Kelsay added nine kills, five of those coming in the third set.</p>
<p>Whiteland coach Jill Cain said that the same problems that have plagued her young team throughout the season doomed it again on Tuesday.</p>
<p>"Our biggest barrier is that the girls don’t bring the energy that we practice with onto the court," Cain said. "They make a couple of silly errors, and we lose our momentum and we dig a hole, and then when we decide to fire up and play, it’s too late."</p>
<p>The Grizzly Cubs, meanwhile, also have a lot of inexperienced players in larger roles this season, but they seem to be playing with more cohesiveness each time out, regardless of what the end results may have been lately.</p>
<p>"It’s definitely a rebuilding experience," Kelsay said, "but I think that as the season goes on and we play more games, we’re definitely connecting more and getting to know each other better, and I think we’re succeeding like we want to.</p>
<p>"It is hard losing, obviously, but I think that after the fact, we realized that it’s a good thing for us and that it pushes us, and we grow from losing, even though in that moment it might not make us happy."</p>
