St. Frances Academy captures the IAAM "C" Conference Volleyball Championship with a win over Friends School

By Derek Toney, Special to the IAAM -

Basketball has long ruled girls' athletics at St. Frances Academy. That might be changing.

There's a new championship plaque in the east Baltimore school's trophy case as the Panthers volleyball team won the IAAM C Conference crown with a four-set victory over Friends School at Roland Park Country School Saturday evening.

St. Frances (14-1 overall) rebounded from a near collapse in the third set to break the Quakers (11-4), completing a perfect season in league play. The win capped a historic Saturday for Panthers athletic program.

The Panthers' championship journey began two years ago for coach Janisha Thomas. "Last year our priority was trying to o get the girls understand the game a little better," said Thomas. "This year, it was really about getting the right priorities, making sure that we're disciplined enough to do the bump-set-spike and make sure they knew how to cover on defense and work offense."

"Our journey has been very long. We worked hard for this," said St. Frances outside hitter Mia Davis. "We worked everyday. We earned this."

Davis, who helped the Panthers basketball team to A Conference title last winter, is one of several basketball players on the volleyball team. The Panthers reached the C volleyball semifinals last fall.

"A lot of people doubt us because we play basketball, but everybody put their time in," said junior hitter Taneara Moore. "Even though volleyball isn't our No. 1 sport, we went hard everyday."

The Panthers were challenged in their penultimate game by Friends, which lost in four sets during the regular season. After splitting the first two sets, St. Frances had a commanding 17-9 lead in third set after Moore's ace.

But Friends stormed back, gaining a 24-22 lead. St. Frances answered as Davis tied the match at 24 on a kill, forcing deuce. Freshman Angel Reese gave the Panthers the advantage at 25-24 with an ace. A Friends hitting error gave St. Frances a 2-1 set lead.

"Friends was everywhere and they hustled for every ball. They did an awesome job of covering," said Thomas. "We just lost our rhythm for a game and we were able to find it."

The Panthers broke away from Friends in the fourth set, securing a 11-point advantage. Davis landed a kill in the corner, clinching St. Frances' first non-basketball IAAM championship.

"They played better and wanted it more," said Friends coach Tyler Wideman. "We kind of fell apart at the end, but St. Frances deserved it."

Davis and Moore said Saturday's win gives them motivation going into the start of preseason basketball practice. The Panthers went undefeated in A league basketball play last winter.

"I'm looking forward to basketball," said Davis. "It's the same thing, working hard everyday."