Franklin women's volleyball had lost its last five meetings against Manchester and eight of the last nine.
On Wednesday night, the Grizzlies flipped the script, riding an 18-kill night from
McKenzie Schroeder to a 25-23, 25-21, 20-25, 25-19 road win.
"We always know Manchester is going to be a loud, difficult environment, and the team responded incredibly," Griz coach
Dillon Taylor said. "Step one in a huge week for this team."
Schroeder set the tone early for Franklin (19-5, 4-2 HCAC) with kills on the first two points of the match and three of the first five. The Spartans briefly led on a couple of occasions, the last at 16-15, before the Grizzlies scored six of the next eight points to go up 21-18. Manchester rallied to tie it at 23-23 before Franklin claimed the set on a pair of Spartan errors.
In the back-and-forth second, the two sides were deadlocked at 21-21 before the Grizzlies scored the last four points, the last three coming on kills from
Leah Middleton, Schroeder and setter
Brionna Linkel.
Franklin never led in the third set and fell behind 9-5 to start the fourth, but they regrouped to pull ahead at 17-16 on back-to-back kills by Middleton. The closing stretch was all Griz, as the visitors broke an 18-18 tie by scoring seven of the last eight points. Freshman
Avery Smith had kills on the final two points to end it.
Middleton and Smith had 12 and 10 kills, respectively, to supplement Schroeder's monster attacking night.
"We knew going in she could have a big night," Taylor said of Schroeder, but she did more than anyone could have asked."
Linkel finished with 27 assists and
Addie Smith 17, and
Lily Gena headed up a balanced back-row effort with 11 digs. Taylor also credited the Grizzlies' serve receive and passing for keeping the team balanced and in system all night.
Next up will be a Friday night home match against Mount St. Joseph, another team close to the Griz in the league standings.
"We have to stay composed and go one at a time," Taylor said, "but this team is ready for a challenge."
