Whiteland has enjoyed a resurgent season on the volleyball court under first-year coach Jenny Munn, winning seven of its first nine matches and climbing into the upper half of the Mid-State Conference standings.
The team sitting at the top of those standings wasn’t having any of the Warriors’ feel-good story, though, as host Franklin dealt Whiteland a 25-13, 25-14, 25-14 defeat on Tuesday evening.
The Grizzly Cubs (8-4, 4-0) got 13 kills from Scarlett Kimbrell and 11 from Rose Mahin en route to the victory. Setter Kennedy Urban had 32 assists and matched Kate Pinnick with 20 digs on the back row.
“Scarlett was pretty hot tonight; she felt pretty good,” Franklin coach Pat Carlson said. “Kennedy was really running the offense well and defending, which has been tough to do both lately, and Kate played well too.”
The Warriors (7-4, 2-1) hung tough early in the first set, briefly holding the lead and still sticking close at 11-10 before Franklin took control, with a Kennedy Urban tip and a Veronica Whitaker kill sparking a 9-1 run that stretched the margin to nine points. Kills by Whitaker and Brooklyn York finished off a set-closing 5-0 surge.
The Grizzly Cubs never trailed in the second set, scoring six unanswered points early to take an 8-2 lead, then staved off a Whiteland comeback bid midway through when Mahin put down four kills during a six-point span to make it 16-9. Franklin again closed strong, finishing the set off with back-to-back Whitaker kills.
Mahin was the go-to girl for the home team early in the third set, putting down four kills as Franklin built up a 9-3 advantage. The Warriors scored the next two points to get back within four, but consecutive kills from Urban, Mahin and York eventually stretched the Grizzly Cub lead out to 20-10 and Whiteland got no closer than seven the rest of the way.
Franklin needed a good bounce-back after a rough tournament weekend at Providence, where it suffered losses to state-ranked teams Roncalli, Silver Creek and Center Grove.
“It was nice to get back on home court,” Mahin said. “The tournament was rough; we had a lot of tough competition. So just coming back in our own atmosphere was nice.”
Kennedi Morrison and Ashlyn Ricketts had five kills each for the Warriors.
“We get a little bit of momentum, and then we’d miss a serve,” Munn said. “We just couldn’t keep it going. That’s kind of been our battle as a team, so that’s what we’re trying to overcome currently.”
Despite the sweep, Carlson had high praise for what the Warriors have been doing under Munn, one of his former players.
“I can tell Jenny’s going to do a good job there,” Carlson said . “She’s going to get the culture correct. Not that it was bad before, but she’s really changing things and I can tell they’re listening to her and responding to her.”
