COUNCIL GROVE — The talented West Franklin High School junior volleyball players have another off-season to ponder the pitfalls of sub-state.

Those players have led the Falcons to nearly 60 wins during the past two regular seasons. Sub-state tournaments have been hard on the Falcons.

COUNCIL GROVE — The talented West Franklin High School junior volleyball players have another off-season to ponder the pitfalls of sub-state.

Those players have led the Falcons to nearly 60 wins during the past two regular seasons. Sub-state tournaments have been hard on the Falcons.

West Franklin ran into a good Silver Lake squad in Saturday’s semifinals and came up a bit short in the three-set match.

The Falcons fell 21-25, 25-19, 25-20.

West Franklin finished at 27-10, while Silver Lake makes another state tournament appearance after sweeping Mission Valley in the championship match.

“We played well,” West Franklin coach Angie Corwine said. “It was a battle. There’s nobody more deserving [to go state] than my girls. Life is not fair. [The juniors] have one more year to get it.

“We did not play well enough.”

The No. 2 and 3 seeds clawed at each other from start to finish. West Franklin rallied from behind to take the first set. West Franklin fell behind 5-1 early.

The Falcons creeped within 20-18 when they went on an 6-0 spurt to take a 24-20 lead behind the serving of Emily Reed. McKenzie Steele had three kills in the run.

The second set saw West Franklin jump to a 7-0 lead, but the Eagles rallied back for the win.

Corwine said the third set went back and forth.

“We played really good defense,” the coach said. “It was a good season.”

The Falcons compiled a 21-4 mark after a slow 3-6 start to the season.

Statistics

Bailey Whittington: 5 aces, 2.3 serve-receive, 22 digs.

Aubry Flory: 14 kills, 2 blocks.

Emily Reed: 13 kills, 37 assists, 15 digs.

McKenzie Steele: 3 aces, 14 kills, 18 digs, 2.3 serve-receive, 4 blocks.

Stephany Lord: 3 aces, 17 kills, 1 block.

Shelbi Allen: 22 assists.

Sierra Miller: 3 kills, 5 blocks.

Katie Aitchison: 5 kills, 2 blocks.