STEUBENVILLE, Ohio – Lady Baron volleyball team got a much needed win against Penn St. – Altoona who previously trailed FUS by only one game in the AMCC rankings. The Lady Barons now sit in second place in the Allegheny Mountain Collegiate Conference with a 5-1 record trailing only Penn St. – Behrend for the top spot.

Franciscan topped the Lions in three games (25-16, 25-17, 25-20) keeping the Lady Lions experienced roster on the run and quieted their main weapon, senior Mariah McDowell who was just named AMCC player of the week for the third time this season.

"They have some very good players," Head Coach Kelly Herrmann said. "Mariah is very talented. You can never come into a game like this over confidence. You need to force yourself to play well in order to give yourself a chance to win."

The Lady Baron's middle hitters gave their team the best chance to win as they shined against Altoona. Freshman Ana Tolkach had eight kills and only two errors while freshman Emily Baznik added another eight kills and just one error.

"We have been working hard with our middles to make them more comfortable offensively," Herrmann said. "We have been working on specific transition drills to increase their speed so they are in a good position to react to the ball."

High production and low errors was a theme for FUS whose young roster has been prone to errors as they adjust to the speed of collegiate play.

Against the Lions, Franciscan's sophomore outside hitter Christina Lawrence demonstrated just how deadly the team can be when they play mistake free volleyball. Lawrence impressively dropped seven aces in three games including a run of five consecutive aces to end the third set. She also had six kills, 12 digs and four block assists all while accumulating zero errors.

"The key to volleyball is to hit the ball where they're not," Herrmann said. "We try to challenge our girls to hit the ball in different spots and C-Mar (Lawrence) did that tonight. She did a great job. She put the ball right behind them and also had a great night defensively."

Strong individual performances helped gel the Lady Barons into a cohesive team that did not let many strong shots onto their side of the court. FUS racked up 9 blocks against the Lions and never let them grab momentum.

"We read their tips," Herrmann said. "We kept ourselves moving as the match went on."

The Lady Barons wind down the season with a mentality that every game they enter is the most important game of the season as they prepare for their play-offs.

"We are trying to focus one game at a time," Herrmann said. "We want to go into every match thinking that this is the most important match of our season. "

Franciscan's next most important match comes on Saturday Oct. 26 against conference opponent D'Youville College at home at 1pm.