Back home for the first time in a couple of weeks after eight straight matches away from the Spurlock Center, Franklin women's volleyball took advantage of the comforts of home and opened its weekend invitational with a pair of victories on Friday.

The Grizzlies got their day started with a 25-15, 25-9, 25-21 sweep of Kuyper College and then followed up with a 25-20, 25-23, 25-21 triumph over Wilmington.

With the two victories, Franklin got its record back to .500 on the season at 7-7.

"We've struggled to finish in the red zone," Grizzlies coach Dillon Taylor said, "and I thought today, when the games got close, they looked to themselves and said, 'Hey, we have this.'"

That improvement in closing out tight sets was particularly evident against Wilmington, as all three sets were closely contested.

In the first, a Leah Middleton kill and a Hope Moring ace helped Franklin break a 16-16 deadlock and take the lead for good. Set two was tied at 22-22 and 23-23 before a pair of Quaker errors settled it.

The final set saw a 22-15 Grizzly advantage cut to three points on a pair of occasions, but a pair of Kaitlyn Lavy kills helped put the home team over the top.

Middleton led the way with 16 kills against Wilmington, while Lavy had a double-double with 11 kills and 12 digs and Moring also posted one with six kills, 20 assists and 11 digs. The Grizzlies also got eight kills on 11 swings from Lauren Kinsey, 16 digs from Campbell Clark and 20 assists from Brionna Linkel.

Against Kuyper, the two teams were tied at 15-15 to start the match before the Grizzlies put together a blitz of 10 consecutive points to take the first set. Hannah Phegley had two service aces and McKenzie Schroeder a pair of kills during that closing run. Set two was Franklin's from the beginning, with back-to-back Kyla Cales kills highlighting a run of five points that stretched the lead to 15-5. 

Kuyper put up a fight in the third, cutting it to 22-19 before a series of errors dashed the Cougars' comeback hopes. 

Kaitlyn Lowes paced the Griz attack in that first match with 11 kills, while Cales finished with eight. Jayde Billings handed out 21 assists and Schroeder had five blocks, including three solos.

"It's getting so much better," Taylor said. "The growth is there, the intentionality is there, and ... we've said it all the time, the switch was going to flip — and when it did, that everyone should look out. We're really proud of the group."