For the first time in the rally scoring era, Franklin women's volleyball has a double-digit win streak.
The Grizzlies reached the milestone with ease on Friday evening, cruising to a 25-12, 25-12, 25-15 sweep of Monmouth in their first match at the Millikin Invite.
"Historic win," Franklin coach
Dillon Taylor said, and what makes it even cooler is that every available player got to take part in it. Really proud of this group for handling their business tonight."
Set one saw Franklin (10-1) reel off eight straight points to take control at 10-2.
Avery Smith had back-to-back kills to start that run, which also included a pair of service aces by
Lily Gena. The Grizzlies racked up the first seven points of the second set on
Addie Smith's serve, with that blitz including three aces bookended by kills from
Kaitlyn Lowes and
Lauren Kinsey. Dominican got as close as three before a 5-0 Griz run, again capped by a Kinsey kill, stretched it to 21-10.
Dominican actually led early in the third set, but Franklin took the lead for good at 9-8 and then put things away with six straight points to make it 21-11.
Mireily Colomba had two kills and
Jenna Batty added a service ace to close that decisive spurt.
As Taylor noted, the Grizzlies got contributions from everyone on the active roster. Lowes and
Leah Middleton paced the attack with eight kills each, with Kinsey adding seven.
Addie Smith had 14 assists and six aces, while Batty handed out 11 assists while setting in the second set.
Addie Smith and
Kim Busateri each pulled up six digs, while Colomba led the way at the net with four blocks.
"It really shows that no matter who's in the lineup, we can be successful," Taylor said.
Franklin returns to action early Saturday with matches against host Millikin and Monmouth (Illinois).
