BUFFALO, N.Y. - Franciscan volleyball came out aggressive and won the first two sets but then lost confidence while the Medaille Lady Mavericks came back to win the next three sets and the match 25-19, 28-26, 20-25, 18-25 and 12-15.

"Basically we started out really strong, hitting really well," head coach Kelly Herrmann said. "We started to get less aggressive and they're a really good team. If you're tentative against a really good team, then you're going to have a long night and it turned into a long night for us."

In the first two sets, the Lady Barons were hitting Medaille hard with senior Dani Link and junior Ellie Waldsmith leading the offense. Link finished with 17 kills on the night and Waldsmith added seven of her own. However, the second set got a little too close for comfort as Franciscan barely edged out the Lady Mavericks out 28-26.

Medaille took advantage of the Lady Baron's lack of comfort and decreasing confidence to win the next two sets rather comfortably, forcing the two teams to play five sets to decide the match.

"That second game we should have won comfortably but then we barely squeaked it out," Herrmann said. "In the third game, we got down a little bit early and then battled back and battled back but through the whole third and fourth game, we were struggling with our comfort."

The Lady Barons were down 4-1 early in the fifth set before beginning a comeback to take a 9-6 lead, forcing Medaille to take a timeout. Franciscan built up to a 10-7 lead with the help of senior outside hitter/defensive specialist Christina Lawrence's serving. The senior finished with four service aces, six kills, two blocks and 11 digs.

"Cmar's serving in the fifth game really brought us back," Herrmann said. "She served very, very tough. That's how we got the lead in the fifth game."

Herrmann added, "We still could have won this game if we played with the same confidence and aggression that we played the early part of the match with. It really wasn't errors that hurt us. It was the fact that we weren't really going for it."

Traveling home from Buffalo, exhaustion and recovery will be a tough challenge for the Lady Barons as the team has a quick turnaround with an afternoon match tomorrow.

"It's going to be a great test for us," Herrmann said. "It's just a good challenge with the emotions of playing a match and then playing a match the next day. The physical and mental recovery is really a challenge you experience if you win a conference semifinal and play in a conference championship the next day."

The Lady Barons will host the Cougars of Chatham University for a Homecoming matchup on October 3 at 2 p.m.