DaytonDailyNews.com

FAIRBORN — Dave Franklin made his old high school volleyball coach both proud of him and a maybe a little envious Saturday.

Lima Central Catholic, where Franklin is in his second year as coach, won the state Division III girls volleyball championship with a 25-27, 25-17, 25-15, 25-20 over Albany Alexander at Wright State's Ervin J. Nutter Center.

It is the first girls team championship for the Thunderbirds (27-2), who were No. 11 in the final state coaches poll. Alexander (25-4), from the Athens area in the southeastern part of the state, was No. 16.

After losing the first game, LCC dominated at the net with 34 blocks, taking numerous offensive options away from Alexander. In contrast, LCC made the net a kill zone, with 18 from JoJo Krieg, 13 from Danielle Taflinger and 10 from Rachel Illig. Alexis Diglio had 43 assists and led the defense with 15 digs.

Betsy Irwin had 11 kills for Alexander.

Franklin, a 2001 graduate of Kettering Fairmont High School, had a dozen relatives on hand cheering him on along with his high school coach, Bill Buriley.

"He told me how proud he was of me and how he was jealous because I won a championship my first time making it to state and he's never won a title," said Franklin. "If someone had told back in high school that I'd be coach of a state volleyball championship team when I was 24, I would have thought they were crazy.

"But we're a Catholic school and I believe in God and there's got to be something special going on that put me in this spot."

Franklin was a baseball player until his sophomore year at Fairmont when he got cut. Buriley knew the 6-foot-3 Franklin was a good athlete and quickly recruited him to the boys' volleyball team, which plays in the spring.

"The closest I had been to volleyball was watching some beach volleyball on TV and going to a couple of high school games," he said. "But coach Buriley talked me into trying out. As soon as I got on the court and began to understand the game, I fell in love with it."

Franklin played on the Firebirds' reserve team as a junior and was a starting outside hitter as a senior on a squad that went 25-3. "I wanted to play volleyball in college, and not many schools offer the sport for men," he said. "I got on the internet and found out the University of Findlay had the sport.

"I never knew the school existed. But I wanted to get some different experiences from high school. So I went to Findlay and made the team as a walk-on."

Franklin played four years at Findlay, earning a scholarship his senior season. He graduated in 2005 with a degree in education. "I couldn't find a full-time teaching job, so I decided to (be a substitute teacher) and coach with the Findlay Volleyball Club," he said. "Then I heard Findlay High School had an opening for an assistant volleyball coach, applied for it and got it."

A teaching and coaching job opened at Lima Catholic in 2006. Needing full-time employment, Franklin took a position teaching biology and earth science along with coaching volleyball. His first year he had an 18-7 record.

"He brought a lot of discipline to the program," said Krieg, a junior. "Before he came, it was like we'd win as many games as we could and hope to do well in the tournament. But he really got us working hard and setting goals."

He also got Krieg, Taflinger and several other players involved with year-round United States Volleyball Association club programs. "These girls were all good athletes," said Franklin. "When they got into the club programs and started to play some real good competition, they began to blossom.

"I thought we might be a year away because we're pretty young with only two seniors. But the kids just kept getting better and better."

LCC has always been in the shadow of the Midwest Athletic Conference when it comes to small school athletics in northwest Ohio. The MAC, small schools located between Lima and the Indiana border, has won 87 state championships since it was formed in 1973, including nine volleyball titles.

"We don't have to hear about the MAC schools anymore," said Taflinger. "Now we've got a state championship of our own."

Contact this writer at (937) 225-2251 or dlong@DaytonDailyNews.com