It wasn't the final point of the match, but Demetric George's monster kill three points prior to the end certainly felt like an exclamation point for Franklin men's volleyball.

"If you're looking at defining moments in program history thus far, I think that swing goes on the wall," Griz coach Dillon Taylor said.

George's floor-denting shot highlighted a match-closing run that saw the Grizzlies score the final five points of an epic 23-25, 25-23, 25-20, 18-25, 15-9 victory over Mount St. Joseph on Wednesday night in front of a spirited crowd at the Spurlock Center.

Franklin (4-10), which also pulled out a five-setter at Olivet last Friday, has already won twice as many matches as it did in its debut season a year ago. 

The match got off to a somewhat rocky start for the Grizzlies, who committed seven service errors and eight attacking errors in what still turned out to be a winnable first set. The home team rallied from five down to tie it at 22-22 before miscues on three of the last four points allowed the Lions to take it.

Rather than hang their heads, though, the Grizzlies regrouped to take the next two sets. Franklin, which hit .467 in the second (16 kills, two attack errors), went up 17-12 on a Leo Meseberg kill and then bounced back after a Mount St. Joseph rally, with Jonathan McCoy delivering two of his 16 kills at the end of the set to even the match. The Griz scored six of seven points to take the lead for good at 15-12 in the third, eventually sealing it on a Corbin Deck kill.

The Lions charged back from deficits of 4-0 and 13-10 in the fourth, scoring five consecutive points and eight of nine to take control and force a decisive fifth set. The visitors then got out to a 4-2 lead early in set five before a Meseberg kill calmed the waters for Franklin. Back-to-back errors by MSJ gave the Grizzlies an 11-9 lead and forced a timeout — after which George's kill immediately forced another.

Matthew Becerra followed with a service ace to make it 13-9, and a block by George and Meseberg on match point finished things off.

"I was really, really proud of them in set five," Taylor said. "(MSJ) came out, they got up ... and we stayed the course. We're really trusting the process right now, and it shows."

George finished one kill behind McCoy with 15, adding nine digs. Meseberg had nine kills and four blocks up front, while Becerra posted a double-double with 30 assists and 10 digs. Libero Simon Hmung pulled up a match-high 19 digs.

The Grizzlies travel to Greenville on Saturday (March 7) for a tri-match with with the Panthers and St. Norbert.