GREENVILLE, Ill. – The Franklin men's volleyball team hit the road on Thursday (Mar. 13) night and headed to Illinois for a pair of matches, facing off with Rockford and Greenville.
 
The Grizzlies (2-5) put up a fight in the opener with Rockford (5-14) before ultimately falling in straight sets. In game two against the Panthers (1-16), Franklin claimed the program's second ever win with a four-set thriller.
 
Game One: Rockford 3 – Franklin 0 (25-23, 25-16, 25-20)
The opening set saw the Royal wrestle control away from the Grizzlies with an 8-1 run that turned a 17-11 Franklin lead into a 19-18 Rockford edge. The Grizzlies got set one back to even at 22, but Rockford claimed three of the last four points to take the opener.
 
Sets two and three saw Rockford keep Franklin's attack in the negative as the Royals went on to take both sets.
 
Jonathan McCoy topped the Grizzlies with 10 kills and tied for the team lead with a pair of blocks. Tiki Johnson finished with 14 assists and Simon Hmung led the back line with 11 digs.
 
Game Two: Franklin 3 – Greenville 1 (25-23, 22-25, 25-20, 25-20)
A back-and-fort opening set came down to the wire, with Greenville fighting off a late deficit to get all square at 23. But after a Greenville service error led to set point, Franklin finished off an opening set win with a big kill from Avery Sylvester.
 
Greenville evened things up after beating back a late Franklin comeback attempt in the second set, but the Grizzlies brushed off their second set defeat with a convincing game three. Franklin hit .481 for the third set, overpowering Greenville and moving a set away from victory. The fourth game saw the Grizzlies dominate on the attack again, hitting .348 in a set they never trailed.
 
McCoy was dominant in every phase of the game, putting down a career-high 20 kills while adding 10 digs and a team-high five aces. Sylvester added seven kills and Gustavo Cornelius set a career-high with six kills in support.
 
Johnson put up 33 assists, setting a season-high total for helpers while Hmung added 12 digs to lead to defense. Freshman Wyatt Biggs set a career-high with four blocks, followed by three rejections from Cornelius.
 
Up Next
The Grizzlies are off until next Wednesday (Mar. 19), when they head to Kentucky for a meeting with Midway University. First serve is set for 6:00 p.m.