FRANKLIN, Ind. – The Franklin College volleyball team served up their first two contests of the spring season, taking on the Mount St. Joseph Lions in the first of five straight games inside the Spurlock Center to open the 2021 spring campaign.

In the opening contest, the Grizzlies (0-2, 0-1 HCAC) dropped a three-set heart-breaker to the Lions (2-0, 1-0 HCAC), falling in three tightly-contested sets 26-24, 25-22, 25-23. In the scheduled non-conference that followed, The Mount completed the two-match sweep in three sets 25-22, 25-19, 25-20.

Match One | Mount St. Joseph 3 – Franklin 0
The Lions jumped out to an early 5-2 lead in the first set, but Franklin would respond with a 12-4 run to make it 14-8 midway through the opening set. Franklin's lead would climb to as many as 7, but the Lions began to make their push late in the set. At one point, the Lions would take nine out of 11 points to knot things up at 23 before closing out the comeback by taking three of the last four points.

Set two saw the Grizzlies take an early lead before the Lions took the lead for good with a 7-2 run. Franklin would hang within a few points of the Lions for the rest of game two, but were unable to get the go-ahead rally before time ran out in a 25-22 win. The Lions opened the final set with an 8-2 run, but Franklin ripped off nine straight points to take the lead. But the hosts were unable to hold momentum, as The Mount re-claimed the lead shortly after before holding on by the slimmest of margins.

Kyndall Boyll finished with a team-high 11 kills for Franklin, who finished with a .133 hitting percentage in the match. Sofia Helton handed out a team-high 21 assists in her first career game, while Allison Thompson (16) and Billie Jarrett (13) reached double-digit dig totals.

Match Two | Mount St. Joseph 3 – Franklin 0
The opening set saw six ties and a pair of lead changes, but the game's deciding run came with the score tied at 17 and the Lions grabbing five of the next six points to take control. The Grizzlies closed the gap to one late, but The Mount took the final two points to end the comeback bid.

Game two saw a whopping 11 ties and four lead exchanges. Once again, with the score tied midway through the set, the Lions used another mini-run to kick-start a stretch that saw them take 11 of the final 16 points to hold off the Grizzlies. The third match was another close contest that saw the Lions pull away late to finish off the sweep.

Reagan Egbert put away four kills in the match, giving her a team-leading 13 through the day's two contests. Savanna VanHoy and Mackenzie Waldran had eight assists each and VanHoy led the team with nine digs.

The Grizzlies continue their homestand on Wednesday (Jan. 27) night, hosting Rose-Hulman for one contest inside the Spurlock Center. First serve is set for 6:00 p.m.