Most expected that the Class 4A volleyball sectional at Franklin would come down to a familiar showdown in the final, and Thursday didn’t offer any semifinal surprises.
Center Grove barely broke a sweat in its 25-14, 25-10, 25-6 victory over Whiteland. The ninth-ranked Trojans will play in Saturday night’s championship match against the host Grizzly Cubs, who swept Franklin Central 25-20, 25-19, 27-25 in the first semifinal.
"I thought we really maintained a great level tonight," Center Grove coach Chris Due said. "We were the aggressors, we took care of the ball, we ran the offense very well and we minimized our mistakes. Overall, I thought it was a great match by us.
"We didn’t play our best volleyball Tuesday, but tonight looked a lot more like us."
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Center Grove (26-6) jumped out to a 16-5 lead in the first set and was never seriously threatened, with Jamie Brown putting away six kills and Katie Egenolf five.
Neither of the next two sets was any closer. A run of 12 consecutive points helped the Trojans build a 14-1 cushion to start the second, and a nine-point barrage, capped by two Calista Stafford kills and a Jenna Otto ace, made it 15-2 in the third. Center Grove substituted liberally for most of the final set.
Egenolf wound up with 12 kills on just 15 attempts for the Trojans. Brown had nine kills, Ashley Eck pulled up 15 digs and Madison Hammill contributed 32 assists and five aces.
Franklin, meanwhile, had an up-and-down evening but always managed to come up with points when they were needed.
Down 14-12 in the opening set, the Grizzly Cubs stormed ahead for good by scoring nine of the next 10 points. A Kabria Chapman block and a Cami Kelsay kill helped start that decisive surge, and a Hillari Hensley ace finished the game off.
Franklin (19-10) appeared to be in command of the second set at 16-9 before the Flashes reeled off the next eight points to briefly pull ahead. The Grizzly Cubs responded with a 6-0 run to close the game out, spearheaded by three service aces in a row from Megan Thompson.
"Once we were on a run, we had a lot of energy, and we tried to keep that," Kelsay said. "When the other team got a point, we just kept our heads up and knew we could get the next point."
The third set was a back-and-forth affair, with neither side able to pull ahead by more than four. Finally, with the score knotted at 25-25, Chapman put down a kill to put the Grizzly Cubs in front, and a Franklin Central attack on the next point sailed long.
Kelsay paced Franklin with 11 kills and 12 digs, while Chapman added nine kills and five blocks. Thompson finished with six aces and Haley Haldeman totaled 21 assists.
Though the Trojans have won both head-to-head meetings with Franklin in straight sets this season, including a fairly lopsided affair in the county title match, neither side expects a similar result Saturday.
"We know how they play," Kelsay said of Center Grove. "We’ve played them many times before. I think that we just have to have that confidence going in that we know we can beat them and play with them."
"You know (Franklin is) going to be ready," Due said. "They’re going to come out firing, so we’ll be mentally prepared and ready to go."
