BEREA, Ohio—Baldwin-Wallace College hosted its 13th Annual Marcia French Memorial Volleyball Tournament on Friday and Saturday, and the Franciscan University Lady Barons opened up their day-one competition with a 3-0 victory over Oberlin College. In a hard-fought match two, Franciscan was defeated 3-2 by Westminster College of Pennsylvania.
Despite coming out victorious in the first match, Franciscan's head coach Kelly Herrmann said that her squad played better in the game-two defeat.
"It was a little mind-boggling," said Herrmann. "We played pretty poorly in the first match. But what was amazing was that no matter how badly anyone was playing, the girls never get down on each other. They're able to stay positive and be really patient and kind, more so than any other team I've ever seen. We were able to hang in there and win the match, despite how we were playing."
The Lady Barons looked like a different team in the first game of the second match, according to Herrmann, as they came out and dominated Westminster. The Lady Barons went on to lose both the second and third games by double-digits.
"[After the third game] I thought, 'Oh wow, we are just going right back to how we played in the first match.' But, the girls bounced back in the fourth game," Herrmann added.
Franciscan dominated the fourth game with a 25-15 victory and forced Westminster to a fifth and final game.
"When you play that fifth game, which only goes to 15 points, you have to come out strong, but we didn't. We got down early and you just can't dig a hole like that and come back to win," said Herrmann. The Lady Barons lost the deciding match 15-11.
Meg Kay was the leading hitter for Franciscan as she registered 27 kills between the two matches. Kay also recorded five aces, including a streak of three straight aces in match one, as well as 17 digs. Freshman setter Amy O'Keefe led the team in assists on the day with 37. Maria Prezzia registered 26 digs on the day and Nicole Henson finished with 24 of her own.
"We're exactly where we want to be and exactly where we thought we'd be," added Herrmann. "With each match we're learning new things and gaining experience. Tomorrow will be two really challenging matches, but that's what we want. That's how we get better. Overall I was really proud of our team tonight."
The Lady Barons, now 2-3 on the young season, will be up against the challenging competitors of John Carroll University and Theil College for day two of the Marcia French Tournament. The first match against JCU is slated to begin at 10:00 a.m., with the second match of the day starting at noon.
