BY JIM DABBELT/Contributor
PITSBURG – It was a slow start for the Arcanum volleyball squad, as they traveled to Franklin Monroe looking to keep their Western Ohio Athletic Conference season perfect. Once the Trojans overcame a rough opening game, they finished the three-game sweep over the Jets 25-23, 25-10, 25-22 to improve to 10-0 in the WOAC and 16-2 overall.
Franklin Monroe falls to 8-10 on the season after dropping their fourth consecutive match.
“We came out a little bit slow and we talked about that this week, we have a lot going on this week with Homecoming and it was their senior night tonight,” Arcanum coach Jacie Holman said after the game.
“Usually, we are in control of the game but we came out with the mindset that we had this game and we knew FM would not back down and they came out and was ready to give us that challenge tonight.”
Franklin Monroe led 5-0 and 10-4 in the opening set forcing a Trojan timeout. Arcanum battled back to cut their deficit to 15-12 behind service points from Kamryn Beisner. The Trojans took their first lead at 24-23 before putting the opening set away for the comeback victory.
“Our serving has been strong all year and it continues to get stronger,” Holman said. “Tonight, probably wasn’t our best serving, but even when it isn’t our best it looks pretty solid. We make their back row move around and out of system.”
“We allowed them to not get a lot of sets to Presley Cox because our serves were so aggressive and took the option away from them.”
Arcanum jumped out to a comfortable lead in the second set, leading 10-3 behind five service points from Lexi Gibbons. Aggressive net play from Grace Psczulkoski and Caroline Long, both recording big blocks allowed the Trojans to maintain a 13-8 lead before Mackenzie Byrne reeled off 10 consecutive points to push Arcanum to the second set win.
“All of our hitters did an exceptional job tonight, and Grace really stood out on the right side. I don’t think people expect big hitting on the right side and she came through. Lexi and Caroline did a great job going deep corners.”
Set three saw the Jets compete in a tough battle, thanks to steady serves from Alivia Addis with five points, with contributing net play from Allie Muhlenkamp and Cox.
“Senior Night is really fun and they brought the energy tonight, they were ready to play,” Franklin Monroe coach Angie Filbrun said about the fast start for the Jets. “Win or lose, it is a great night when we play Arcanum.”
“Going into tournament time, this is great for us tonight. They are an excellent team and well coached, we just couldn’t hold on and they finished strong. They were the better team tonight.” Filbrun concluded.
Arcanum has already clinched the WOAC Conference Championship but has one WOAC league game remaining with Tri-County North on Tuesday at home and with a win they will stake their claim of being the undefeated WOAC league Champions.
