BROOKVILLE – For the better part of 15 years, the volleyball rivalry between the Batesville Lady Bulldogs and the Franklin County Lady Wildcats has been completely one-sided in favor of BHS. Last Tuesday at the Wildcat gymnasium, the trend continued as the Dogs earned a 3-0 sweep of their Eastern Indiana Athletic Conference foe with set scores of 25-16, 25-15 and 25-13.

The hosts stayed with Batesville for the bulk of the first two sets until big service runs widened the gap and led to BHS victories. In set three, the guests rode a 5-point run by senior Laney Walsman to a 16-7 advantage with the lead growing to double digits soon after.

Walsman's serving was on point all evening, including a closing run in set one that quickly took the score from 21-16 to the deciding rally that ended on an FC attack error. The most effective spree of the night, however, came from the hand of Ava Powner – she triggered a 7-point run from the stripe to make the second set score 21-12. An ace by Cayman Werner closed it out with BHS up 10.

Off the block, the visitors were up 20-10 in the third set. Two kills by freshman Grace Walter put BHS up by a dozen at both 22-10 and match point at 24-12. Werner's kill concluded the match a point later.

The Wildcats' final lead of the night was at 6-5 in the opening set when a Bulldog attack went awry. Freshman Reesa Zimmerman tied it with a kill; FC had kills of their own to draw even at 8-8 and 9-9 but that was the last deadlock of the match. Walsman made it 12-9 from the service line before a Powner kill, Sophie Gesell ace and Aly Peters block made it 16-13. Werner got the next two points, and a block ended a nice rally to put the score at 19-14. A Margaret Wilson kill kept the lead at five points.

Powner helped serve BHS to a 3-0 cushion as set two got underway. Kills by Peters and Wilson and a series of unforced errors by the home team led to FC coach Jill Mergenthal asking for time down 11-5.

After a dual block by Veronica Reeves and Annie Hoff, FC had side-out leading to three points off Kensee Ferman's serve. BHS, however, scored 14 of the next 20 points for the set win.

In the ensuing set, Wilson killed the first point, but FC kept it close at 4-3 early. A nice rally followed, finally ended by a Zimmerman solo block. Reeves earned a block of her own to make it 6-4, before a 4-0 spurt by the visiting side and Wildcat timeout at 10-4. In the short run, Zimmerman had a block, Wilson an ace and Werner placed a winner.

The Cats again did well out of a timeout, taking the next three points.

Peters and Werner were perfect from the service line at 10-of-10. Peters added 6 kills and 4 blocks while Werner and Gesell had 5 kills each. Powner earned 13 assists. The Schell twins, Kassidy and Kiersten, each led FC's offense with 3 kills. Kiersten paced the defense with 21 digs. Kassidy and Stephanie Billman set up the front row with 5 assists apiece.

FC moved to 2-2.

At N. Decatur (Aug. 25)
Despite playing much better after set 1, FC was swept at North Decatur Thursday (25-9, 25-22, 25-19). FC was complimented by the Lady Chargers for “excellent attitude and sportsmanship,” according to Mergenthal.

Ferman had 11 digs, 3 aces, 2 kills and a block. Billman had 6 assists and 3 digs. Tiffany Billman added 8 digs, 3 kills and 2 blocks. Reeves posted 3 kills, a block and dig. Cydney Morehead had 2 kills. Ki. Schell collected 12 digs, 3 kills, an ace and assist while Ka. Schell had 6 assists, 8 digs, 4 kills, a block and ace. Lauren Stacy had 11 digs and 1 assist.

40th annual Madison Invite
At Madison Saturday, the Cats placed third. FC went 2-1 in pool play before defeating Madison in the 3rd-place match (23-25, 25-16, 15-9).

Other scores were wins over Rock Creek Academy (27-25,13-25, 15-13) and Austin (25-18, 26-24) and loss to Christian Academy (20-25, 22-25).

Ki. Schell totaled 63 digs, 7 aces, 19 kills and an assist. Ka. Schell finished with 41 digs, 28 assists, 8 kills, 9 aces and 2 solo blocks. Ferman added 48 digs, 2 assists, 7 kills, a solo block and 7 aces. Stacy recorded 50 digs and 2 aces. S. Billman had 27 digs, 27 assists and 3 aces. Morehead had 4 kills, 4 digs and an assist. Hoff went for 2 solo blocks, 2 kills, 3 assists and 2 digs. T. Billman had 13 digs, 9 kills, 9 solo blocks and an ace. Reeves had 4 kills and a dig. 

FC varsity volleyball pulled out a nice – and rare - win over a solid Hagerstown club on the road Aug. 16, winning 25-22, 25-11, 23-25, 25-16. Mergenthal noted it had been over a decade, in her recollection, since the girls topped the Tigers.

S. Billman started the night with an ace and Ka. Schell ended the first two sets with kills. Billman finished with 5 digs, 9 assists and another ace. T. Billman added an ace, 7 digs, 5 kills and block assist. Schell totaled 14 assists, 10 digs, 6 kills, block assist and 3 aces. Twin sister Kiersten had 2 aces, an assist, 24 digs and 8 kills.

Stacy had 20 digs and Ferman 18 digs, 3 kills and 3 aces. Hoff counted a kill and 2 digs and Morehead 2 kills. Reeves had 3 digs and 3 kills. 
In a conference match at home Aug. 20, Connersville came back on the Cats in five sets: 25-15, 25-20, 21-25, 19-25, 9-15.

The final set was tight until CHS had a closing run. The Schells had 34 digs, 7 kills and 2 aces (Kiersten) and 15 assists, 19 digs, 4 kills, 7 aces and 2 assisted blocks (Kassidy). The Billmans had 15 assists and 15 digs (Stephanie) and 6 digs, an assist, 6 kills, solo block, 3 block assists and a dig (Tiffany). Ferman tallied 27 digs, 5 kills and 3 aces. Reeves added 2 solo blocks (2 ast. Blocks), a dig and kill. Morehead had 2 kills and assisted on 3 blocks. Hoff had 2 kills while Stacy added 19 digs and a kill.