STEUBENVILLE, Ohio — The Franciscan University tennis team played two conference matches on Saturday afternoon. The Lady Barons won their first match against the University of Pittsburgh at Greensburg 7-2 and won its second match against La Roche College 5-4.

“We started the day super strong mentally and were fired up, ready for the day,” said FUS head coach Jenna Lynch “The girls knew we had to be prepared for a long day and they followed through.”

To set the tone the doubles teams all came out victorious against Pitt-Greensburg. No. 1 doubles team of Leann Roggensack and Caeles Crunkleton-Wilson won their match 8-4; No.2 team of Kristine Godnick and Alanna Murray outplayed their opponents to secure an 8-0 shutout win and No. 3 doubles team of Lucia Neugebauer and Hannah Pettit attained an 8-3 win.

“We came out extremely strong in the doubles play in the first match and got a lot of clean points,” Lynch said.

In the singles round against Pitt-Greensburg No. 2 singles player Alanna Murray stayed consistent and won 6-3,6-3; No. 3 Caeles Crunkleton-Wilson stayed strong and won 6-4, 6-0; No. 4 Kristina Godnick kept the fire alive and won 6-2, 6-4 and to close out the wins on the match No. 6 Hannah Pettit was victorious 6-1, 6-1.

“At the end of the first match the girls had to recover as fast as they could because we only had an hour between matches,” Lynch said. “It was a nerve-racking day and I had to mentally prepare the team for this all week.”

The Lady Barons proved they were up for the challenge and did not give in to the exhaustion of the day during the match against La Roche College. The No. 2 doubles team of Godnick and Murray started the match off with a clean 8-2 win. No. 3 doubles team of Neugebauer and Pettit put forth an exceptional amount of effort to win 9-8 after taking their match to a tiebreaker that ended 7-4.

“It was a stand out performance by the No. 3 doubles team in the second match because they were down and then came back to win,” Lynch said.  “It was especially huge because all the tie-breakers we have had this season we have won and that is a big improvement for us because last year we would usually lose in the tiebreakers.”

In the singles play against La Roche the team had to dig deep but pulled out the overall win. No.  3 singles player Crunkleton-Wilson won her first set 6-1 and then her opponent had to forfeit due to injury. No. 5 singles player Pettit kept the spirit alive and won her match 7-5, 6-2.

In the final match of the night under the lights senior No. 4 singles player Kristina Godnick came back after being down 3-0 in the final set to win 5-7, 6-4, 6-3. This game was the one that would decide the final score of the match and Godnick put up a stellar fight for her team. Lynch noted that when Godnick was told that the match relied on her final set she flipped her level of aggression up and finished strong for the team. 

“They showed a lot of mental toughness and endurance I didn't know they had,” Lynch said.  “I was really proud that they fought to the end and they all fought to stay aggressive and fight out points despite the fatigue of the day.”

The Lady Barons are now 6-1 on the overall season and 4-0 in the AMCC and will take on Waynesburg University on Sept. 18 at 4p.m.