STEUBENVILLE, OHIO- In a long, cold match, Lady Barons tennis beat conference opponent University of Pitt-Greensburg 6-3. Building off of their energy from their 9-0 win against La Roche College the day before, Franciscan won its eighth straight conference match and clinched the top seed in the AMCC playoffs.

While the win gives FUS an undefeated conference records, the 6-3 victory didn't come easy and served as a challenge to not get complacent.

"This was a good wake up call for them and it shows that we have work to do before conference," said Head Coach Jenna Lynch. "We have to practice hard because there isn't anything that is guaranteed."

The wake up call came particularly in singles play where the Lady Barons split the six matches 3-3. It was a showcase of depth that made the difference for FUS with two confident wins from sophomore Erin Coyne at no. 5 singles and freshman Emmy Mathias at no. 6 singles.

Sophomore Ashley Veasey also pulled out a critical match, winning a 6-2 tie breaker set at no. 2 singles after a 3-6, 6-3 first two sets.

"Some of the points did not go our way but the girls pulled through where they needed to pull through," said Lynch.

Making up for the Lady Baron's loss in singles was the strong chemistry of the doubles teams, a strength for FUS since the start of the season. Sophomores Alli Jensen and Erin Coyne won the other momentum swinging match winning a tiebreaker in no. 2 doubles 9-8, (7-3).

"They did a good job communicating with each other," said Lynch. "There was just great teamwork."

No. 1 doubles and no. 3 doubles won with a little more separation, again underlining doubles play as the Lady Baron's biggest advantage over their conference foes.

"They worked together to handle the ball," Lynch said of her team's doubles pairings. "They really did a great job putting the ball into open areas of the court in doubles."

With conference play done for the rest of the regular season for Franciscan, the Lady Barons will try to stay sharp with three more non-conference matches starting at home against Capitol College on Monday, October 6 at 7 pm.