Burrows and Kaye Save the Day for Hobbled Keystone in Hard-Fought 3-0 Sweep of Franklin

KNOX, Pa. (EYT/D9) — Players in walking boots and ankle braces.

Another with her elbow and back wrapped.

The preseason has been rough for the Keystone volleyball team.

(Above, Audrey Borrows, left, and Kennedy Kaye of Keystone.)

A rash of injuries has already tested the Panthers’ depth.

On Monday night in the season opener against Franklin, Keystone’s experienced roster paid some early dividends in a 25-21, 25-22, 25-23 sweep of the Knights.

Redbank Valley, Keystone, and Union/A-C Valley sports coverage on Explore and D9Sports.com is brought to you by Heeter Lumber.

“Luckily we have some pretty good players we can throw in there,” said Keystone coach Bryan Mong. “They make the job tough because I have to decide who’s who.”

With senior Sydney Bell and Emma Plummer hobbled by ankle injuries suffered within two days of each other during the final week of camp, the Panthers were in need of some players to fill the void.

Several filled in admirably.

Audrey Burrows, a junior, had four key kills in the sweep. She also played a solid middle.

“Audrey is an ice-in-the-veins kid of girl,” Mong said. “Nothing seems to rattle her. She stays at one level of calmness and it helps her when she’s out there on the court in tough situations.”

Senior Reagan Mays also came up big with nine service points, two aces, eight digs and 13 assists and senior Karley Callander had three aces.

“It was a good way to start and it’d be nice to build off that momentum,” Mong said. “We have some injuries and a week off. Hopefully we can get healed up and we can come back and build off of this.”

The usual subjects also shined for Keystone.

Senior outside hitter Leah Exley led the way with a team-high 10 kills and four aces; Senior middle Natalie Bowser added six kills, three blocks, five assists, six digs and an ace.

Senior libero Kennedy Kaye had 28 digs while playing with a balky lower back that has bothered her all camp, as well as a sore right elbow to boot.

“It was definitely a change in our starting six will all the injuries,” Kaye said. “But you have to adapt. You have to keep going. I mean, we’re all a team and anyone can play anywhere. We need to trust each other.”

Even though her back was hurting — she had it wrapped during in the third set and finished off the match gingerly— Kaye didn’t want to come off the court.

“It needs adjusted,” Kaye said, smiling. “I took a dive out there and kind of twisted it the wrong way.”

“That back bites her every once in awhile,” Mong said. “I ask her, ‘You want to come out?’ She always says no. She’s a tough kid and she’s just going to keep playing through it. She puts a lot of abuse on her body at that position.”

It was a hard-fought sweep for Keystone.

The Panthers jumped out to a 7-1 lead in the first set before Franklin eventually closed to 14-13 after a kill by senior outside hitter Sydni Hoobler, who had eight in the match.

Keystone went on another run to push the lead back to 19-13 and cruised to the 25-21 win.

The second set was more of the same. After trading points in the first part of the set, the Panthers went on another pivotal spurt to lead 20-15 on the way to a 25-22 win in the set No. 2.

Franklin finally got its first lead of the match in the third set and was up 15-9 at one point before Keystone stormed back. The Panthers first lead of that set came at 18-17 following an ace by Exley.

Bowser closed out the match with a kill and a 25-23 third-set triumph.

Despite the loss, Franklin coach Matt Jones was pleased with how his team played against the defending District 9 Class 2A champions.

“We knew we were up against a good team and we played even with them a lot,” Jones said. “We just had little stretches, like right at the beginning of the first game and right in the middle of the third game, where we struggled a little bit. But we did some good stuff tonight.”

Franklin also had its problems on serve-receive at times.

Part of the reason for that is the strength of Keystone’s servers.

The Panthers had 10 aces in the match.

“They have some power servers,” Jones said. “We were on our heels a little bit trying to pass. We played them pretty tough. We’re a little disappointed because we thought we could come out with maybe a set or two. One thing happens differently here or there and maybe we win 25-23 in a couple of them.”

Franklin libero Gabby LaJeunesse had a big night with 35 digs.

“We started out strong serving, but in the third game we had a little bit of trouble,” Mong said. “We’ve worked a lot on placement and they have a great libero. I was telling them, ‘We need to get it to the left or the right; she’s putting them up.’

“We played summer league (with Franklin) and I’ve seen improvement from them just from summer until now,” Mong added. “Hats off to them.”

Keystone will face off against rival Redbank Valley at home Sept. 6.

Those two teams have played each other in the D9 final in each of the last two seasons. Redbank won two years ago; Keystone last season.

“We have to focus hard in practice,” Kaye said. “Redbank is a big rival. We know we’re good. We just have to trust each other and work together.”

Redbank Valley, Keystone, and Union/A-C Valley sports coverage on Explore and D9Sports.com is brought to you by Heeter Lumber.