GRANVILLE, Ohio – The Franklin College volleyball team got the 2023 campaign going on Friday and Saturday (Sept. 1-2) with three matches at the Denison Big Red Invitational.
 
The Grizzlies came away from the weekend with wins in two of their three matches, besting Washington & Jefferson and Wilmington to open play and falling to Denison to close out the weekend.
 
Franklin 3 – W&J 1 (25-21, 13-25, 25-21, 31-29)
A dominant first set on the attack that saw the Griz hit .214 with 15 kills lead to a 1-0 lead but Franklin faltered in the second set to allow W&J to tie things up. Franklin gutted out a third set victory that was finished off with three straight FC points and a wild fourth set saw Franklin win in the tie-breaker session.
 
Kaitlyn Lavy led the attack with 14 kills while middles McKenzie Schroeder and Chloe Holder put down 12 and 10 kills, respectively. Franklin hit .176 for the match while W&J swung at a .205 clip. Defensively, the Grizzlies finished with eight total blocks, getting four block assists from Lavy, Holder and Alyssa Zemlyak.
 
Franklin 3 – Wilmington 0 (36-34, 26-24, 25-21)
A wild opening set saw the two teams have six lead changes and nine ties in the tie-breaker alone came to an end at 36-34 thanks to three straight FC points to finish out the set. Game two required another tie breaker, though this time it ended in quicker but dramatic fashion as Franklin fought off set point with five straight points to close out the comeback, ending with an emphatic ace from Campbell Clark.
 
Game three didn't require extra volleyball but did feature six straight points from the Grizzlies that turned a 16-16 tie into a lead they would hold the rest of the game.
 
Sophomore Hope Moring topped Franklin with 14 kills and added 17 assists and 12 digs for the first triple double of her career. Trinity Schroeder led the team with six blocks while Campbell Clark topped the Griz with 21 digs and four aces. Brionna Linkel racked up a game-high 21 assists.
 
Denison 3 – Franklin 1 (25-18, 22-25, 25-14, 25-20)
Franklin's lone set win came in game two where they put away 15 kills and hit .342 as a team to even things up at one game each. But attacking struggles in games three and four allowed the Big Red to pull away and close out a win on their home floor.
 
McKenzie Schroeder led the offense with 11 kills and added three blocks. Linkel turned in a second straight 21-assist performance and Clark led the back line with a 19-dig performance.
 
Franklin will open up the home portion of their schedule on Tuesday (Sept. 5) night, hosting DePauw University. First serve from the Spurlock Center is set for 7:00 p.m.