PITTSBURGH, Pa – After nearly three hours of playing time a crowd of twenty fans and FUS teammates stood around court five of the Alpha Fitness & Tennis club to watch Lady Baron freshman Allison Jensen catapult her team into the conference finals.

"I noticed other games were ending but I didn't want to look at any of the scores," Jensen said. "I don't work well under pressure."

With a 6-3 and 7-6 victory over her opponent Jensen responded to the match pressure earning the deciding fifth point to give FUS a 5-2 victory over Mt. Aloysius College. Franciscan progressed to the Allegheny Mountain Collegiate Conference championship for the first time in their history after replacing nearly their entire roster in the off-season.

After an undefeated 2012 regular season in conference, the Lady Barons lost in the first round of the AMCC semi-finals and then returned only four of their six athletes. The 2013 season had the potential to be a rebuilding year for the program but Head Coach Jenna Lynch was able to restock the roster and kept her team focused. Now they have the opportunity to walk away with the AMCC championship.

"We aren't done yet," Lynch said, making sure that her team doesn't get too confident after their emotional match. "This is very sobering for us. It's important we don't get too high."

FUS came back from a 2-1 deficit after finishing doubles play and then rattled off four straight singles wins to oust the Mounties. Roster depth was the key factor for the Lady Barons whose number two, four, five and six singles players came out with wins.

"We are a very stacked team," Lynch said. "My bottom three girls are very consistent and consistency win games. Our top three can play out better points and have stronger strokes but our bottom three are definitely more consistent."

Senior Lucia Neugebauer watched her team defeat Mt. Al with a perspective that many of her teammates didn't have. Neugebauer was on the 2012 team that was prematurely knocked out of the AMCC playoffs and had to rebuild in the off-season. This is a fantasy inspired story for Neugebauer.

"This is so exciting," Neugebauer said. "Before the first week of the offseason I didn't know any of my teammates. After just a few weeks I knew we had something special. Making the lineups must be hard for coach because everybody is so talented."

Lynch's lineups have paid off for the Lady Barons who will face an almost equally young team who defeated FUS 5-4 earlier in the year.

"The best team will win tomorrow," Lynch said.

The Lady Barons will wrap up their season on Oct 20 against AMCC rival Penn St. - Behrend for the conference championship and an invitation to the NCAA National Championship Tournament.