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Franklin Monroe middle hitter, Morgan Booher gets one of her 14 kills
on the night against
Bradford in Cross County Conference action at
Bradford. The Jets won in three sets, 25-8, 25-22
and 25-12. CNO Photos
by Don Selanders, goroaders.com
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Jets topple
Bradford on the road
Arcanum next for FM
By George Starks
BRADFORD- Bradford coach Maddie Armstrong, wanted to send her three
seniors out on a winning note Tuesday and celebrate a successful senior
night.
Franklin Monroe had a totally different agenda.
With a 17-3 mark and one loss in the conference and a showdown set with
Arcanum tonight, the Jets could ill afford to lose a second Cross
County Conference match.
On the flip side, Bradford (3-17) had nothing to lose and everything to
gain.
In the end, the Jets left The Train Station with a 25-8, 25-22 and
25-12 victory.
It was a night when the Jets didn’t play up to their potential.
After winning the opening set in very convincing fashion, it looked as
if the Jets would dispose of Bradford quickly.
That wasn’t to be the case.
In the second set, Bradford would trail 10-3 early and was looking to
get blown off its own court for a second straight set.
Then Amanda Brewer stepped up and the Roaders responded.
With Brewer serving and senior MacKenzie Weldy getting the job done at
the net, Bradford had closed the gap from 10-3 to 10-8 before the Jets
could break serve.
“We came alive in the second set,” said Armstrong. “When this team
comes together and plays like a team, we are going to give any team a
game and that’s what we did tonight.”
At that point, it was game on for the Roaders as the home team started
to click.
With Weldy leading the charge at the net, it was Bradford that looked
like a team that was ready to contend for a conference title.
With the Jets on their heels, holding a slim 20-15 lead, Bradford
reeled off four more points, closing to a 20-19 count before losing
serve back to the Jets, only to fall 25-22.
“If Bradford had kept going, we would still be playing,” said FM coach
Amy Booher. “The girls never give up. I had confidence in them that
they would come around. We had a lot of communication errors tonight
which we can’t have going into tournament. They cleaned it up a little
bit in the third set. A win is a win, no matter how ugly.”
So what happened to the Jets in the second set?
“Second set is a curse for us,” admitted Booher. “Our passing was
really bad in that set. In the first set, our passes were good and it
allowed us to set things up at the net. In the second set, our passes
weren’t that good and we got nothing at the net. I’ll give Bradford
credit, they came out and played much better in the second set.”
In the third set, FM senior Morgan Booher took control at the net.
Bradford had no answer for the power hitter as Booher would
unofficially record 14 kills, most in the third set.
“Morgan was really on top of the ball tonight,” said Booher. “She
really put it down tonight. She had a good game tonight, Carrie Baker’s
serving was excellent. Carrie’s our ace server so our serving was
decent.”
While disappointed, Armstrong was upbeat about her girls.
“I’m really proud of my girls tonight. They played the kind of game I
wanted them to play but we just couldn’t pull it together the whole
game,” said Armstrong. “Kenzie (Weldy) stepped up for us and when she’s
on, this team is on. The first set, I’m not sure what was going on. We
didn’t have a good warm up and we need good warm-ups. That’s the one
thing I’ve learned about this team.”
With the Roaders saying good-bye to Weldy, Kirsten Harmon and Ciara
Yohey, senior night wasn’t what Armstrong had hoped for.
“I’m really proud of my seniors and I’m going to miss them,” said
Armstrong. “We wanted to come out and play for our seniors and it
didn’t quite happen until the second game. We knew we were going to
have to come out and get after it but it didn’t turn out the way we
wanted it to.”
Bradford, 3-18, will take on the winner of the Jackson
Center-Tri-County North game on Tuesday at Troy.
FM will host Arcanum tonight in a battle for second place in the
conference.
The Jets will take on Twin Valley South on Monday at 7:30 in the Tipp
City sectional.
In other sectional action, Greenville, 2-18, will play Urbana at 6 pm
on Monday at Techumseh.
Versailles (10-10) will see action against Dayton Christian Saturday at
Dixie starting at 2 pm, while Arcanum will play at Brookville Saturday
against National Trail at 5 pm.
Also on Saturday, Ansonia will tangle with Mechanicsburg in a 5 pm
start at Troy.
Mississinawa Valley will play its first round game against Lehman
Catholic Tuesday at Tipp in a 6 pm start. Tri-Village will be awaiting
the winning of this game on Thursday starting at 6 pm also.
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Bradford junior Mandi Bates drills a kill against FM.
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