Franklin College

Make that 36 sets in a row and counting for Franklin women's volleyball.

The Grizzlies extended their longest winning streak since the 1980s with a pair of three-set victories at the Millikin Invite on Saturday. In the morning, Franklin gutted out a 26-24, 26-24, 25-21 triumph over the host Big Blue and then followed with a 25-17, 25-23, 25-16 sweep of Monmouth (Illinois).

Franklin (12-1) has now won 12 consecutive matches, all in straight sets, since a season-opening setback at IU Columbus.

"We knew we were going to get pushed by Millikin and Monmouth after watching them both play each other yesterday," Griz coach Dillon Taylor said. "Millikin is a program that our team, in its history, has never beaten, so I'm incredibly proud of the effort to sweep a team like that coming out of the CCIW."

Against Millikin, the two sides battled back and forth in the first set to the tune of 13 ties and eight lead changes. The last deadlock came at 24-24 before the Grizzlies won it on a McKenzie Schroeder kill and a Big Blue error. Set two was more of the same, with two Leah Middleton kills giving Franklin a 24-22 edge before Millikin tied it back up. The Grizzlies claimed the last two points of the set on errors by the home side.

In the third, Franklin trailed 14-9 before eventually using a 10-1 run to pull out in front for good at 22-17. Lily Gena had a pair of service aces during that run, with Schroeder putting down a pair of kills. 

Schroeder had 13 kills and Middleton 11 against the Big Blue, with Addie Smith handing out 18 assists and Brionna Linkel 14. Kim Busateri led a balanced back row with nine digs, while Addison Walton contributed eight and Middleton had seven. Gena and Skylyr Merriman each served up three of the nine Griz aces.

"Kenzie was huge in that match," Taylor said while also touting the six-rotation play of Middleton all day.

The match against Monmouth was a bit less suspenseful, but still far from a runaway.

Middleton had kills on three of the first four points to help Franklin jump out to a 6-1 lead that held up for the entire first set. The second was the tightest set of the match, with Monmouth rallying from three down to tie it at 23-23 before back-to-back kills from Lauren Kinsey shut the door.

The Grizzlies overcame an early 5-1 deficit in the third, gradually pulling away courtesy of a pair of 5-0 runs.

Middleton posted a double-double with 15 kills and 11 digs, while Avery Smith added 10 kills, Kinsey nine and Schroeder seven. Linkel had 22 assists and Addie Smith 19, with the latter joining Middleton and Gena with 11 digs each.

"It's a historic weekend for our program in a lot of ways," Taylor said, "but just another step in the journey of fighting to be playing on Nov. 14 (in the HCAC tournament)."

Franklin is back at the Spurlock Center on Wednesday (Sept. 23) for a 6 p.m. matchup against Trine.