PITTSBURGH - Franciscan volleyball finished off the last of its nonconference play with a straight-set sweep over second-time opponent Chatham, winning 25-18, 25-8 and 25-23.

"Chatham is certainly a better team than we saw in early October," head coach Kelly Herrmann said. I think that Marc has the team headed in the right direction. They had some girls that could really hit and some girls that could really serve. Just in general, we played pretty confidently and pretty relaxed. That's good, that's how we need to play."

The start of the match was anything but relaxing for the Lady Barons as the Cougars came out with a lot of intensity, determined to send senior Heathir McIntyre out with a win on her Senior Night.

"We dug a little hole," Herrmann said. "They were kind of fired up because it was their Senior Night. It took us some time to calm down and then we got into the rhythm of the match."

Once the Lady Barons settled down, Chatham could not find an answer to the Franciscan offense that finished with 16 kills in the set as opposed to one error for a .342 hitting percentage. Senior outside hitter/defensive specialist Christina Lawrence led the team in kills for the third match in a row with 12 and adding a team-leading 11 digs defensively.

"Christina has just been playing really well," Herrmann said. "When she's been swinging, she's been hitting the ball pretty well."

A strong offense is nothing without smart setters, however, as freshman Becca Haven and junior Mary Moore both played exceptionally well to set up the hitters. Moore led the team in assists with 10 while Haven added seven of her own.

"We have been talking about decision making," Herrmann said. "We have Becca who is a freshman and Mary who is a first year setter, so it's new for both of them on some levels. As a setter, you have to be a good decision maker. It's not just putting up a good set but it's setting where you need to go to beat the other team. That was kind of the conversation tonight and I thought that they did a good job with that."

The match against the Cougars was a true team effort as the defense also stepped up to make strong passes to the setter, leading to a strong offensive night for the hitters. Freshman defensive specialist Callahan Hickey only played in two sets but was able to tally nine digs, second on the team and a season-high for the freshman.

"Callahan has been playing really good defense," Herrmann said. "I kind of challenged all the girls to think about something that they need to work on specifically. For some of them, it's defensive readiness, being down low and loaded when the team makes contact with the ball on the other side of the net. I feel like Callahan did that pretty well tonight."

Only two conference matches remain in the regular season with the Lady Barons still sitting in a four-way tie for second place with Medaille, La Roche and Penn State Behrend. The team who finishes in second at the end of the season will receive a bye straight into the AMCC semifinals.

Franciscan will travel to take on tournament hopeful Mount Aloysius on Wednesday, October 28, at 7 p.m.