For the second time this season, Mount St. Joseph made Franklin women's volleyball work for the desired result. And for the second time, the Grizzlies responded to the challenge.
Maintaining its perfect home record, Franklin shook off a second-set loss to earn a 25-19, 22-25, 25-22, 25-17 victory and solidify a spot in the top three of the HCAC standings.
In addition, the Grizzlies (20-5, 5-2) reached the 20-win mark for the first time since 2002.
"We knew they were going to have a good scout; we've played them already," Griz coach
Dillon Taylor said, referencing his team's 3-1 nonconference win in Cincinnati five weeks ago. "We just had to settle in. ... We challenged them to make sure that we were within the system. We build it for a reason and we really trained it, and I think it shows."
The first set saw the Grizzlies dominate early, pulling out to a 23-13 advantage. The Lions rallied with six consecutive points to get within four, but the Grizzlies were able to finish things out, ending the set with kills by
Avery Smith and
Grace Sailors.
After MSJ rebounded to win the second set, Franklin used an 8-1 run in the middle of the third to build a 14-9 lead. Junior middle
Mireily Colomba came off the bench and keyed that surge with two kills and a pair of blocks.
"Miry was incredible," Taylor said. "We went with the Grace (Sailors) matchup to start the game for the offense; Grace is incredible on the offensive side of the volleyball. But we needed to get a little bit more of that blocking, and Miry comes in and gets four in the match with a lot of impact plays."
Down 22-17 after a
Lauren Kinsey kill, Mount St. Joseph scored five straight points to tie it up, but a pair of errors and an
Avery Smith kill helped the Griz put it away. Franklin then took control of the fourth, using a 6-1 burst that included three kills from
McKenzie Schroeder to extend its lead to 16-8. A
Kaitlyn Lowes kill closed out the match.
Schroeder had a monster night for the Grizzlies, putting down 14 kills on 25 swings with just one error.
"She had an insane week for us," Taylor said. "She came up with a lot of really big moments."
Smith had 11 kills in the win, while Lowes and
Lauren Kinsey had eight apiece.
Brionna Linkel handed out 22 assists, while
Addie Smith added 16 assists and a team-high 20 digs.
It was a critical week for the Grizzlies, who secured victories over the next two teams in the league standings (Manchester and MSJ) and thus hold the tiebreaker over both if such situation were to arise after next week.
Franklin hosts a Senior Night match against Rose-Hulman on Wednesday (Nov. 4, 7 p.m.) before finishing the regular season at Berea on Nov. 7. The Grizzlies aren't taking either one of those for granted, but Taylor does feel good about where his squad is heading into another big week.
"I'm always confident in this group," he said.
