FRANKLIN – The Franklin men's volleyball team opened the final week of their inaugural season on Tuesday (Apr. 1) night, taking on Midway University in the Spurlock Center.
 
The Grizzlies (2-9) got big evenings on offense from Jonathan McCoy, Avery Sylvester and Tiki Johnson, taking a team that swept them recently the distance in the return meeting. But Midway (4-16) would emerge victorious in a five-set battle, holding on to win 18-25, 32-30, 25-21, 16-25, 15-12.
 
The opening game saw Franklin take the lead on the first point and hold on to it for the remainder of the set. The Eagles finished game one with a 9-7 edge in kills, but Franklin forced 9 attacking errors and racked up four aces in the opening set to take the early lead.
 
Midway battled to take a critical second set 32-30 and saw their offense hit .353 in game three to extend their lead to 2-1 overall. Franklin responded with a dominant fourth set that saw the hosts hit .500 with 13 kills and just one attacking error to draw back even and force a deciding set.
 
Neither team would get the upper hand in set five until the game sat tied at 11, when Midway collected four of the final five points to close out the thrilling matchup.
 
Inside the Box Score
-Franklin hit. 205 for the match to .163 for the Eagles.
-McCoy turned in an 18-kill performance and set a new career and program record with seven aces.
-Sylvester picked up his first career double-double with 16 kills and a team-high 12 digs.
-Johnson racked up a career-best 37 assists and finished with 11 digs to notch the first double-double of his Franklin tenure.
-Simon Hmung finished with 10 digs from the libero position.
-Gustavo Cornelius led the net-front defense with three blocks, all coming in the solo variety.
 
Up Next
Franklin finishes off their inaugural season on Friday (Apr. 4) night, hosting the University of Olivet on Senior Night. First serve is set for 7:00 p.m. with the ceremony honoring seniors Jackson Hedges and David Fox set for before the match.