STEUBENVILE, Ohio –Lady Barons volleyball earned a 3-1 victory over La Roche College to put them at 7-1 in the Allegheny Mountain Collegiate Conference. Franciscan's young roster has been playing strong and has amassed an 8-2 record over their last ten matches with only one left in the regular season.

FUS and La Roche pitted two young rosters against each other in a game that La Roche desperately needed to win in order to make the AMCC post season, making them a dangerous opponent for Franciscan.

Things started off smoothly for the Lady Barons who cruised to a 2-0 game lead but hit a speed bump as the Lady Redhawks, with their backs to the wall, battled back to win the third. The scare lasted a little too long for Franciscan's liking as they found themselves down 3-7 in the fourth game as well.

FUS, led by sophomore outside hitter Christina Lawrence's three fourth game aces surged to a 9-10 deficit forcing La Roche to take a timeout. After the break, the Lady Barons dominated and put away the Redhawks with a 25-14 fourth game final.

"We had to maintain our mental focus," Head Coach Kelly Herrmann said. "We lost focus a little bit in the third game and La Roche was ready to pounce. They were fighting to be in the playoffs. They are definitely a team on the rise."

It was a strong team effort by Franciscan who displayed strong attacking, serving and blocking, sending a message that they can score in a variety of ways.

FUS had 13 aces in the match led by Lawrence with six, making it her performance in three matches with six or more.

The middle hitters also played well against La Roche with freshman Ana Tolkach leading the team with 12 kills. Junior setter Amy O'Keefe earned showed her versatility with six kills, no errors, and 27 assists.

"They really put the ball away," Herrmann said. "They are continuing to build their confidence and improve their timing. Amy did a great job of running around and attacking the ball and keeping her shoulders square. She did a really nice job."

As great as their offense was it was once again outshined by a stellar defensive performance. In just a four game match FUS sent the ball back at La Roche with nine blocks and 10 block assists. The Lady Barons strong blocking is a result of suffocating defense that allows them to commit to a block knowing that the supporting players will handle a missed ball.

"That is a really solid blocking total. Blocking is one of our strengths," Herrmann said. "We have solid blocking in every position which is not something that we have been able to say before."

Franciscan will go on the road for their most dramatic match of the season on Nov. 2 against Hilbert College at 1 pm. The two will batter for the number two spot in the AMCC playoffs, earning them a bye week in the first round.