The Sagemont Prep Lions are taking a road trip to take on the Franklin Academy Panthers at 4:00 p.m. on Friday.
Sagemont Prep came up short against Cypress Bay on Thursday, falling 3-0. The loss continues a trend for the Lions in their meetings with the Lightning: they've now lost three in a row.
While Sagemont Prep was not able to make it on the board, they still kept things close, especially in the first set. The final score came out to 25-22, 25-12, 25-15.
Meanwhile, Franklin Academy hadn't done well against Don Soffer Aventura recently (they were 0-9 in their previous nine matchups), but they didn't let the past get in their way on Tuesday. The Panthers narrowly escaped with a win as the team sidled past the Barracuda 3-2. The victory was familiar territory for the Panthers, who have now won four matchups in a row.
Franklin Academy wouldn't go down easily and took Don Soffer Aventura into a fifth set where they got it done with a two-point win. Once all was said and done, the final score wound up at 25-23, 21-25, 11-25, 25-11, 17-15.
Sagemont Prep better keep an eye on Mariangel Gonzalez. She was instrumental in Franklin Academy's win, getting 20 digs and 12 assists. Those 20 digs gave Gonzalez a new career-high. The team also got some help courtesy of Sofia Hernandez, who had 53 digs and three aces.
Franklin Academy was lethal from the service line and finished the match with 12 aces. That strong performance was nothing new for the team: they've now served at least ten aces in four consecutive matches.
Franklin Academy's win bumped their record up to 11-3. As for Sagemont Prep, their defeat dropped their record down to 8-5.
Everything went Sagemont Prep's way against Franklin Academy in their previous matchup two weeks ago, as Sagemont Prep made off with a 3-0 victory. One of the biggest obstacles the team faced in that game was Hernandez, who had 21 digs and one assist. Now that she's got a second chance to win this matchup, will the Lions still be able to contain Hernandez? There's only one way to find out.
