Franklin men's volleyball wasn't always at its best on Thursday night, but sometimes you need to win gritty instead of pretty.

The Grizzlies did what they needed to do when they needed to do it, scrapping their way to a 25-18, 24-26, 30-28, 25-22 victory over Defiance at the Spurlock Center.

"Really proud of our group tonight," Franklin coach Dillon Taylor said. "A match that felt kind of sluggish, we found a way to win. We discussed with the team after that it's important to learn to win when you don't have your best stuff. Tonight, we did that."

The hosts got out to a fast start, building a 21-10 lead in the first set after a run of eight straight points on the serve of Leo Meseberg. Defiance fought back to within four at 22-18 before the Grizzlies put it away, getting the last two points on a Jonathan McCoy kill and a Corbin Deck service ace.

Down 12-5 early in the second, Franklin fended off four set points to tie it up at 24-24, with McCoy delivering two kills and Matthew Becerra an ace during that stretch. The visiting Yellow Jackets, though, took the next two points to even up the match.

Ultimately, the difference proved to be the extended third set, which saw 15 ties. The Grizzlies faced a 23-19 deficit before kills by Meseberg and McCoy started a rally to tie it up. Deck added a kill to square it again at 24-24, and the two teams continued to end up deadlocked until McCoy finished off the set with a kill and an ace on the final two points. 

Franklin took the lead for good in the fourth at 15-10 with a five-point run that was capped by two more McCoy aces; Defiance got within a pair on several occasions but couldn't complete the comeback.

McCoy paced the Grizzlies with a double-double, totaling 14 kills and 14 digs along with four aces. Franklin also got double-doubles from Demetric George (11 kills, 10 digs) and Deck (10 kills, 12 digs). Becerra totaled 30 assists and 16 digs, while Meseberg came up with nine blocks at the net.

It wasn't always their prettiest volleyball — the Griz hit just .126 for the night and had 22 attack errors and 12 service errors — but they were able to dig deep in the big moments and win nonetheless.

"You learn a lot in those situations," Taylor said.

The Grizzlies (5-14) return to action Saturday at Adrian with matches against Wisconsin-Stevens Point and the host Bulldogs.