Franklin women's volleyball had its share of highs throughout its two Windy City Invite matches on Saturday. It just didn't quite have enough to get over the top.

Despite an outstanding attack, the Grizzlies fell short in a 25-22, 18-25, 25-23, 25-23 loss to Kalamazoo in the morning and wrapped up their weekend trip by falling to host North Park by a 25-12, 25-19, 18-25, 25-21 score.

"Tough day for us today," Franklin coach Dillon Taylor summarized.

In its early match Saturday, the Grizzlies rebounded from a first-set loss by taking a 13-4 lead in the second; consecutive kills by McKenzie Schroeder and Leah Middleton capped that early surge. Franklin never let it get closer than three points, though, and scored the last four points of the set to even the match. Hannah Phegley had back-to-back service aces during that closing sequence.

Franklin led the third set 17-15 before Kalamazoo scored six of the next seven to go on top. The Grizzlies closed to within one at both 23-22 and 24-23, but couldn't pick up the tying point in either case. In the fourth, the Hornets got five points in a row to erase a 13-8 Griz lead, and four more after Franklin had regained the edge at 21-18. The set was tied at 23-23 before Kalamazoo's Savannah Chapie delivered a pair of kills to end the match.

Lauren Kinsey and Hope Moring had 12 kills apiece for Franklin, with McKenzie Schroeder (11) and Kaitlyn Lavy (10) also in double digits, but the team committed 31 errors and allowed 14 Hornet aces.

"We had 19 more kills than Kzoo," Taylor said. "When you do that and still lose, that means you've made a lot of errors."

Against North Park, the Grizzlies got down two sets before fighting back in the third. A Schroeder kill finished off a 9-4 to start the set, and Franklin remained on top from there. The fourth set saw the Grizzlies fall as far behind as 20-12 but rally to get all the way back within one at 22-21 after two more Phegley aces. After that comeback push, though, the home side scored the last three points.

Moring had another dozen-kill match for Franklin, adding 13 assists. Charlotte Goto had 19 digs to pace the back row, and Taylor also liked what he saw from blockers Kinsey, Mireily Colomba and Katelyn Barnard, up front. 

"Everyone continues to show up when their number is called and prove that our depth can be deadly once we get rolling."

Though the Grizzlies fell to 5-6 on the season, Taylor liked a lot of what he saw from his team in defeat, calling the North Park match "some of the best volleyball we've played in my two years."

Schroeder was selected to the all-tournament team for the Grizzlies, who wrap a two-week road swing at St. Mary's on Tuesday.