Wednesday evening offered Franklin women's volleyball an opportunity to grab a share of the HCAC lead away from first-place Earlham.
The host Quakers were not in a sharing mood, sending the Grizzlies home with a 25-20, 25-22, 25-22 loss.
Franklin (17-5, 2-2 HCAC) led 13-10 in the first set, but Earlham used a 7-1 run shortly thereafter to take control at 20-15. The Grizzlies hurt their cause throughout the set, committing 11 attacking errors.
Set two was a back-and-forth battle that saw the visitors draw even at 19-19 before the Quakers scored the next three points. Franklin got back within one at 23-22 but dropped the final two points.
In the third, the Grizzlies got out to an early 5-0 lead on the serve of
Leah Middleton, and a
Lauren Kinsey block followed by three straight Quaker errors stretched the Griz advantage to 12-4. Kinsey put down a kill to leave Franklin in charge at 21-17, but Earlham scored eight of the last nine points, including the final six, to seal the match.
A Griz attack that has ranked among the national leaders in hitting percentage for much of the year hit just .044 on Wednesday, with an uncharacteristic 22 attacking errors.Â
Kinsey was the outlier on the night, leading the Grizzlies with nine kills against one error. Defensively,
McKenzie Schroeder and
Grace Sailors had five blocks apiece, while
Lily Gena paced the back row with 14 digs.
Franklin will try to get back on the winning track Saturday afternoon when it brings its perfect 7-0 home record into a 2 p.m. match with Transylvania.
