It was more of the same for the Lady Barons Volleyball team who lost 3-0 in a rematch against the Muskingum Fight Muskies (17-25, 16-25, 16-25). Franciscan is in the middle of a challenging week as they battle tough competition to prepare for conference play later in the season.

Slow starts for FUS cost them the match against a veteran Muskingum team who came into the game with an aggressive mentality. Franciscan opened their 2013 season against the fighting Muskies and took them to five games before eventually losing the match. Muskingum made sure not to have a repeat scare this time around.

"We thought we could beat them based on how they played earlier against us in the season," Head Coach Kelly Herrmann said. "I don't know who we played in that earlier match because we played a completely different team."

Franciscan never took control of the court in any measurable context. They went down early in each of their three games and spent too much effort to take the lead once they caught back up.

"These girls really have positive attitudes," Herrmann said. "Volleyball is a zero sum game. You have 25 points to earn and 25 points to lose. You cannot give a team like that any easy balls because they will take advantage of that. Our girls are learning that."

The learning curve for the new Lady Barons squad does not allow a lot of time for adjustments to the fast pace of collegiate athletics when the bar is set so high. For FUS, the goals are to win the Allegheny Mountain Collegiate Conference (AMCC) Championship and to earn the Peak Performer award which the team won last year.

With team expectations as high as they are, the Lady Barons find leadership from their returning girls who demonstrate the skills need to reach their goals. Sophomore middle hitter Dani Link makes an effort to be as reliable on the court as possible.

"Entering into our third game Dani offered to play on the outside to help shore up blocking opportunities," Herrmann said. "That's not a spot that she particularly loves but she was more than happy to offer. That's the kind of effort I like to see. Offensively she is a good hitter and she pushes the others on the team."

FUS will look to put this loss behind them and get ready for a three game home stand starting with Washington and Jefferson on Sept 20.