Franklin women's volleyball hadn't allowed more than 19 points in a set over its previous eight matches going into Wednesday's trip to Spalding.
When the Grizzlies got pushed, they pushed back.
Trailing for much of the first set and facing a 12-2 margin early in the third, Franklin fought back in both instances to finish off a 25-21, 25-13, 26-24 road sweep.
"Incredible fight from our group tonight," Griz coach
Dillon Taylor said. "We knew after beating them in three last week that they were going to come out and give us all we wanted, and our group really showed up and responded to that."
The Grizzlies (9-1) were down 16-11 in the opening set after Spalding scored six of seven points, and the deficit was still 19-17 before a
Kaitlyn Lowes kill set off a run of six consecutive points. A
Brionna Linkel service ace gave Franklin a 23-20 advantage.
The second set was all Griz, but the Golden Eagles scored the first six points of the third on the way to a double-digit cushion. Franklin was still in a 16-9 hole when a kill from
Leah Middleton set Linkel up for a long service run that featured two more aces and put the visitors in front, 17-16.Â
"It was a great time to just say, 'Who cares?' and move on," Taylor said. "The switch flipped really quickly."
A back-and-forth battle ensued, with
Avery Smith delivering a kill down the line at 23-23 to give the Grizzlies the edge. After Spalding tied it up one last time,
Lauren Kinsey put down the go-ahead kill and a Golden Eagles attacking error on match point closed it out.
The victory is the ninth in a row for Franklin, the team's longest winning streak since a similar nine-match run in 2015.
Middleton finished with 14 kills in the victory, while Smith had nine to go with 10 digs, narrowly missing a double-double.
McKenzie Schroeder added seven kills and Kinsey six.
Addie Smith had 18 assists and eight digs, while Linkel added 14 assists to go with her three aces.
Kim Busateri had a match-high 16 digs on the back row.
The Grizzlies play three tournament matches at Millikin this weekend, starting with a Friday evening battle against Dominican.
"Nine sweeps in a row is not easy to do," Taylor said. "The 10th won't come easy, either — everyone's going to start looking at us with a little bit bigger eyeballs now."
