SHORT GAP, W.Va. — Frankfort kept its season alive, winning 3-1 over Lincoln in Thursday’s Class AA, Region II elimination game.
The Falcons (7-23) won with scores of 25-14, 19-25, 25-15 and 25-19.
“We obviously had one set we played pretty slow, but I did change my rotation going into this game yesterday,” Frankfort head coach Brooke Alkire-Higson said. “Considering that, I thought the girls pulled together well.”
Frankfort opened the first set with six unanswered points and took an early 10-3 lead led by Lily Mantheiy’s two kills and Sophie Young’s two assists and an ace.
Mantheiy finished with four kills, three aces and two assists.
The Cougars got within four points at 12-8, but the Falcons ended on a 13-6 run led by Addison Mervart’s three kills and Young’s three assists and a kill.
“They’re just fired up, none of us want to be done,” Alkire-Higson said of playing with the season on the line. “We’re looking to play the next team so we can keep progressing.”
Young set up Paula Ganoe for a thunderous kill to clinch the set.
Ganoe finished with 15 kills, four blocks, five aces and two assists while Young posted 20 assists, four aces and three kills.
Lincoln responded with four unanswered points to open the second set including three Falcon errors.
The Cougars were on a 10-6 run led by Izabel Shaw’s three assists.
Shaw posted 12 assists and two kills.
“I thought we played well and tough,” Lincoln head coach Savannah Burns said. “The first set, we started off a little slow. It took us a while to warm up, the travel, coming here two hours and showing up and playing, it took us a while to get started. But once we got started, we started to play a little better.”
Frankfort got within 11-8 before Lincoln went on a 6-2 run to stretch the lead to 17-10.
After committing six errors in the first set, the Falcons had eight midway through the second.
Lincoln did not commit one until it led 17-11.
“We woke up, we were ready to start moving,” Burns said. “We were able to get better passes close to the 10-foot line where we could set our hitters and started to get some kills.”
Each team scored eight points to end the set, but Shaw and Maci Bragg teamed up for a kill on set point.
Frankfort never trailed in the third set, but the Cougars kept it within three points through the first half.
Leading 10-7, the Falcons went on a 9-4 run to extend their lead to 19-11.
Angel Arnold recorded two kills, a block and an assist during the run. She finished with 10 kills, six blocks and two assists.
Three aces from Ganoe down the stretch set up set point, which Frankfort secured on an error.
“I think we let some of the calls get to us,” Burns said. “We let our momentum shift a little too much and got in our heads a little bit. Taking care of that first ball across the net is what we had to focus on, especially on their serve receives.”
The fourth set was the most competitive, featuring 10 of the match’s 12 ties and six lead changes.
Tied at 13, the momentum seemed to swing after a question of Lincoln’s rotation gave the Falcons the lead.
Burns said her libero entered for one of the middle hitters, the official said she was on the wrong side of the setter who was pushing up.
Tied at 18, Young and Ganoe teamed up for a spike at the net to put Frankfort ahead for good.
Young and Ganoe teamed up again on match point for another powerful kill to keep the Falcons’ season alive.
The playoff format changed this season, eliminating sectionals for a double-elimination regional format.
In Class AA, two teams advance to the state tournament from each of the four regions.
“I actually love the new playoff format, I think it allows us to have a good opportunity to continue to play on,” Alkire-Higson said.
Della McQuaid finished with seven assists, six kills and an ace while Aundrea Blackwell added 11 kills, a block and an ace for the Cougars.
Frankfort will play on Monday at 6 p.m. in another elimination game against Petersburg at South Harrison High School.
The winner faces South Harrison (25-9) later that night.
The Vikings (21-12) defeated the Falcons 2-1 on Oct. 11 in the regular season before sweeping the playoff opener on Tuesday.
“I just feel like we’re playing to progress, so we’re really fired up to get the win, just keep going on,” Alkire-Higson said.