MARIETTA, Ohio – The Franklin College volleyball team opened a busy holiday weekend on Friday (Sept. 3) night with a matchup against host Marietta College to close out the first day of the BSN Sports River City Classic.

The Grizzlies (1-1) rolled to a win in straight sets, downing Marietta (1-2) 25-15, 25-20, 25-20. Franklin's attackers hit at a blistering clip of .340 in the match while holding the hosts to just .127 for the match. The win is not only the first of the year for FC, but the first in the head coaching tenure of Randi Garrett.

How it Happened
The Grizzlies grabbed the lead on the first point of the opening game and never looked back, breaking things open with three straight points midway through the set that made it 13-8 and forced a Marietta timeout. The Grizzly lead would only grow from there, with Franklin hitting .357 in the set to take a one-game lead.

Set two saw Franklin take an early lead before the Pioneers fought back to tie things up at 14. But Franklin would take seven of the next eight points to put the contest out of reach before Billie Jarrett ended the game with a kill to give Franklin a stranglehold on the match.

Marietta took an early lead in the final game but Franklin was able to keep things close and late in the game, the visitors found themselves down by only a point at 18-17. Franklin put the match away by taking seven of the next eight points to get to match point before Miranda Wilson put the game away with her seventh and final kill of the night.

Inside the Box Score
-Franklin's .340 hitting percentage marked the first time since Oct. 2, 2019 that the Grizzlies hit better than .330 in a match.
-Sophomore Alyssa Zemlyak powered Franklin's attack from the middle, racking up 12 kills without an error and recording a .750 hitting percentage. It marked career highs in both kills and single-game hitting percentage for the Ellettsville, Ind.-native.
-Chloe Holder put down eight kills while Wilson and Sara Allen had seven each. The Grizzlies recorded just eight attacking errors, the first time they finished with under 10 hitting mistakes since 2019.
-Jarrett handed out 31 assists in running the Franklin offense while Allison Thompson topped the team with 15 digs and a pair of aces. 

Up Next
Franklin is back in action on day two of the BSN Sports River City Classic tomorrow, playing Washington & Jefferson at 11:00 a.m. and Capital at 1:00 p.m.