Center Grove blockers Annabelle Schembra, center, and Reese Dunkle try to stop a spike from Franklin’s Addie Martin during Thursday’s match.
Chris Williams | For the Daily Journal
Franklin entered Thursday evening off to its best start in at least a couple of decades at 10-0, but records tend to be meaningless when the Grizzly Cubs and archrival Center Grove are on opposite sides of the net.
Both sides had their moments, especially through the first two sets, but the Class 4A No. 8 Trojans were able to close out a 27-25, 25-22, 25-14 road win and snap Franklin’s early-season hot streak.
“It was definitely a team win,” Center Grove senior middle Reese Dunkle said. “We passed well, and ultimately passing wins games.
The opening set saw the two sides deadlocked four times early, the last at 8-8, before kills by junior Natalie Vance and senior Ellen Zapp bookended a run of five consecutive points that gave the Trojans (8-2) the upper hand. Franklin crept back, however, and back-to-back kills from junior Rose Mahin and senior Aubrey Runyon evened the score at 24-24 before Zapp’s seventh kill of the set and a Grizzly Cub attacking error sealed it for Center Grove.
A 6-0 Trojan run, capped by consecutive service aces from senior libero Maddi Higginson, broke an early tie and put the visitors in front, 11-5, to start the second. A pair of kills fromDunkle stretched that advantage to 15-7 before the Grizzly Cubs again rallied, getting it to 23-22 on a Runyon kill and a Trojan attacking error. That was as close as Franklin got, however, with a Kaylen Plunkard kill and a receiving error giving Center Grove the decisive points.
Hawk never felt the need to hit the panic button when Franklin pulled close at the end of those first two sets.
“I let them have a lot of freedom,” she said. “I don’t call timeouts out of desperation or feeling like we need to end a run; I kind of let them band together and figure it out on their own. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn’t, but I like to give them the confidence that they can get their way through it.”
An Addie Martin kill gave the Grizzly Cubs their first lead of the night at 6-5 early in the third set, but the Trojans responded emphatically, with two big Dunkle blocks highlighting a run of nine straight points that put Franklin in an 18-8 hole before a tandem block from Lizzi Worland and Kyra Destrampe temporarily stopped the bleeding. Center Grove’s lead never shrank to less than eight, though, and Dunkle slammed home the final point of the night on a hard kill from the right side.
Plunkard, a sophomore, was serving during that decisive blitz, and her ability to avoid errors during that stretch helped set the Trojans up for success.
“Keeping our serve in is really important, just because it helps us with our flow,” Dunkle said. “We feel more confident, and we serve more aggressive because we’re not so worried about missing.”
Service errors were a running theme for much of the evening on both sides, a fact that Franklin coach Pat Carlson lamented after his team’s first loss of the season.
“Our performance didn’t match how hard we played,” he said. “The game plan was to do certain things. We missed too many serves, basic volleyball stuff. … We’re not good enough to make up for those errors just yet, this early in the season.”
Mahin led the Grizzly Cubs with 14 kills and matched senior Kate Pinnick with 11 digs. Setter Karlin Burton had 24 assists. For the Trojans, Zapp finished with a match-high 16 kills and Anabelle Schembra had 26 assists.
Center Grove now hopes to carry some momentum into its weekend tournament at Providence, a trip that has traditionally given them fits over the years.
“I think that’s going to be a defining moment for our team,” Dunkle said, “because in the past we haven’t played very well there. This team feels different than in years past, and playing well this weekend is really going to give us the confidence going into (Class 3A No. 2) Roncalli next week that, hey, we can do this, and we’re in a really good spot.”
