When Mark Britner took over as the Franklin College women's volleyball coach in the fall of 1978, he was about the same age that current coach Dillon Taylor is now.

Britner, who oversaw the most fruitful years of Griz volleyball history thus far — a run that included five NAIA national tournament appearances and a school-record 41 victories in 1983 — sees a lot of similarities between his rise and what's happening with Taylor's squad right now.

"I actually had maybe a little better situation when I came in than what he did," conceded Britner, who is still teaching classes at the Spurlock Center as a professor of exercise science. "He's had to develop a little bit more than what I originally had to do."

But Taylor and his team are indeed developing — rapidly. Just two years removed from a 9-20 overall record and a winless conference season, the Grizzlies are reaching heights not seen since Britner's mid-1980s peak.

Since losing the season opener at IU Columbus, Franklin has been on a tear, winning 15 consecutive matches. Fourteen of those have been straight-set victories, with a run of 40 consecutive sets won before dropping one at Mount St. Joseph this past Saturday. The Grizzlies entered the week ranked 23rd in the NCAA's Division III NPI ratings, and they were named on multiple ballots in this week's AVCA Division III poll, ranking 43rd overall.

Not only are the Grizzlies winning this fall, but they're also doing so in extremely impressive fashion. Through last weekend's matches, Franklin ranks fourth nationally in hitting percentage (.279), fifth in assists per set and ninth in kills per set. Sophomore middle blocker Lauren Kinsey is second in the country in hitting percentage at .443, just one thousandth of a point off the lead.

That high-efficiency attack has been a calling card early on.

"We're very efficient, and we can play clean, and that's been keeping us in rallies," said sophomore outside hitter Leah Middleton, who leads the team in kills with 144. "We're not giving up points with our errors."

They're also not folding in tight situations. Though the Grizzlies have been killing off a lot of opponents quickly, they've also been meeting the moment when the sledding became more difficult. Franklin has won six of seven sets decided by a two-point margin this year; in 2025, the team was 11-15 in those situations and lost all four matches that went to a fifth set.

Taylor has seen a different look in his team's eyes when it comes down to crunch time, most notably in a pair of 26-24 set wins against a Millikin team that swept the Grizzlies a year ago.

"When we're getting into these situations now, I never doubt that we're going to pull one out," Taylor said.

The Grizzlies' depth has made them particularly difficult to stop. While Middleton leads the attack, the balance behind her has been staggering, with Kinsey at 96 kills, right-side hitters McKenzie Schroeder and Kaitlyn Lowes at 89 apiece and freshman Avery Smith at 88. Fellow rookie Bayleigh Moore, who filled in on the right for an injured Schroeder this past week, isn't far back at 74 kills. Setters Brionna Linkel (253 assists) and Addie Smith (231) have found a similar spread.

Defensively, six different players have double-digit blocks, led by junior Mireily Colomba with 49 and Kinsey with 35. Libero Kim Busateri has a team-best 174 digs, but Linkel, Addie Smith and Middleton all have 90 or more.

Service has also become a weapon, with Addie Smith at 34 aces and both Linkel and Lily Gena at 24. Freshman Skylyr Merriman has chipped in 15.

On any given night, any given Grizzly can do the damage.

"I know that anyone could come in and do a great job," Middleton said. "Even when we had Kenzie out this weekend, Bayleigh came in, had 12 kills in the first game. I may not have my best game, but Avery came in right behind me and she had a good game. Our middles can always have a good day. ... We do not have to have one player on for every single game to win that game. I feel like some teams have one star player; we have a whole team of star players, and that's what makes each game incredible."

Incredible, sure — but not necessarily surprising. Taylor and his players knew during the preseason that they had the makings of something special. Still, few expected it to come together this quickly, with the Grizzlies having already matched last season's win total and putting together the longest win streak in school history since Britner's 1983 team earned 22 victories in a row.

"I wouldn't say it's shocking," Taylor said. "I just think it's, what they're doing is incredibly difficult to do, so I'm in awe of what they're doing every day. We knew taking over this program three years ago that there was going to be a lot of work that had to be done — and by no means is that work done."

On the contrary — in many ways, it's just beginning. Saturday brings the start of HCAC play with a trip to face rival Hanover. The Panthers, along with next week's nonconference foe, DePauw, currently represent the highest NPI-ranked teams on the Grizzlies' schedule this season. And neither will be sleeping on the Grizzlies at all. Not anymore.

Taylor knows that what his team has accomplished thus far means little if that same energy doesn't carry over into the tougher matches ahead.

"Everyone's 0-0," he said, referencing the HCAC standings. "Everyone's record resets this week. And the fact that we've won 15 in a row is going to put a Spurlock Center-sized target on our back. How are we going to respond to that?"

The Grizzlies' big goal this season, Taylor notes, wasn't to put together a long nonconference winning streak. It's to be one of two teams playing in the HCAC tournament championship match on Nov. 15. Picked sixth in the league's preseason poll, Franklin believed a month ago that it could make a run at the top, and it's even more confident now. The Grizzlies will try to back up that confidence by continuing to focus on what's ahead and not what's already been accomplished.

But what's been the real secret sauce so far? The coaching? The depth and balance in the lineup? An unshakable belief in one another to come through when it matters?

Sure, all of that has come into play. But in Middleton's eyes, it all stems from the fact that these Grizzlies truly like being around one another every day.

"I don't think you have to have the best players on the court," she said. "I feel like if you have a team of six D1 athletes and they don't like each other, they're going to lose to the D3 program that actually knows how to play with one another and actually enjoys playing with one another. If you can enjoy and cheer on your teammates, you can literally beat any team. That's what I truly believe in, and that's why I think we're doing so well."

The result so far is a run of success that Franklin hasn't seen since Britner was a young lad himself 40 years ago.

"I'm glad that I'm still around to see it happening," the former coach said.