Franklin women's volleyball coach Dillon Taylor sounded like anything but a defeated man on Wednesday night.

His Grizzlies came out on the losing end against HCAC co-leader Earlham, sure, but Taylor was glowing with pride after a marathon five-setter at the Spurlock Center.

The Quakers escaped town with a 25-23, 19-25, 25-23, 22-25, 15-7 victory.

"Our energy was incredible," Taylor said. "Losing hurts, but there's nothing to be ashamed of today."

Franklin (14-12, 3-3 HCAC) was in it to win it from the start. Back-to-back service aces by Hope Moring made it 7-7 in what proved to be a nip-and-tuck first set, and the home team led 18-15 after a tandem block by sisters McKenzie and Trinity Schroeder.

Earlham surged back in front with a 6-1 run, though, and managed to close out the set after the Grizzlies had drawn even at 21-21 and 22-22.

After dropping the first, Franklin showed its grit with a strong second set. A Kaitlyn Lavy kill gave the hosts the lead for good at 17-16, and the Grizzlies closed the set on a 6-1 surge, with McKenzie Schroeder delivering four of her 17 kills down the stretch.

The second half of set three saw the Quakers use an extended run to pull ahead by a 23-19 count, then hang on after the Grizzlies closed to 24-23 on a Moring kill, but Franklin again countered by winning the fourth. A Lauren Kinsey kill punctuated an opening 6-1 flurry, and after Earlham closed to within one on several occasions, the last at 20-19, Franklin responded to the pressure. Kamzi Gross served up an ace to make it 23-19, keying a finishing push to force a decisive fifth set.

The Quakers (18-7, 6-0) ultimately settled things in that final set, but the Grizzlies had plenty to be proud of — and lots of big numbers on the stat sheet.

Moring posted a triple-double with 11 kills, 19 assists and 11 digs, adding four aces for good measure. Freshman Leah Middleton was huge throughout, hammering home a career-high 20 kills and adding nine digs while also keying the Franklin serve receive. Kinsey had eight block assists in the middle, while Emily Holmer paced a balanced back row with 17 digs.

"Every number that got called was ready to go and made an impact, and as a coach I couldn't ask for much more," Taylor said.

With three matches left in the regular season, Taylor talked about using Wednesday's strong performance as a springboard and noted that his players remained upbeat after the defeat.

"There was a lot of really good things being said in the huddle about pride and about 'why not us?'" the coach said. "We talked a lot the last two or three weeks ... about, 'Why not Franklin?' Nobody gives us a shot in a lot of these games; no one believes that we can be legit and we can go get it.

"I think that the girls are starting to believe in what they can do, and now it's just about going and putting the product on the court."