CLEVELAND - Day two of the Marcia French Memorial Invitational tournament was much tougher for Franciscan volleyball as the Lady Barons lost to Carnegie Mellon and Case Western, both in straight sets.

The Lady Barons got off to a slow start in the Carnegie Mellon match, taking a lot of swings without a lot of positive results and only finishing with three kills in a 25-12 first set.

Sophomore outside hitter Monica Fischer started the match in place of senior Dani Link to give the captain a little bit of a rest.

"We sat Dani for two reasons," head coach Kelly Herrmann said. "One, we wanted to rest her arm and shoulder because you take a lot of swings over four games. Two, we wanted to give Monica the chance to play and see what she could do."

Fischer took a lot of confident swings in that first set but ended up having a stronger impact defensively by finishing with 18 digs. Some of those 18 digs came off various parts of her body but she was still able to get the balls up to get an attack off.

"Monica came in and did a great job," Herrmann said. "They hit some very hard balls at her and she didn't get freaked out, it didn't faze her. She just kept playing. We are just feeling more and more confident knowing that we have her as a sub who is not just going to come in and play defense but can play all the way around, and, as a sophomore, do a good job."

More offense for the Lady Barons came in the second and third sets led by junior middle hitter Ellie Waldsmith and sophomore right side hitter Bella Wedig who finished with six kills each. The third set was the closest one that the Lady Barons played in all day with a final score of 25-23.

"We had opportunities to win that third game and you just live and learn," Herrmann said. "Carnegie Mellon is a very good team, there's no doubt about it. The fact that we got stronger as the match went on is encouraging." 

Case Western proved to be another challenge, as the Lady Barons had a mistake in the starting lineup that the girls had to play through, causing a little confusion in a 25-14 first set.

"When moments like that happen, how are you going to respond," Herrmann said. "They played through it. They realized the world didn't end and they made some good plays, some good things happened. If something bad like that happens in a match again, they'll be ready for it. Those are all good experiences."

Even as the Lady Barons got past the lineup snafu, Case still proved to be a frustrating opponent, winning the last two sets by scores of 25-13 and 25-17.

"I feel like we were battling today," Herrmann said. "You can't play frustrated. That's just not helpful."

At the end of the Case match, senior libero Samantha Kelly was named to the All-Tournament team after finishing with 84 total digs on the weekend.

"The award was given to the most consistent player on our team," Herrmann said. "She was always there even when our blockers weren't."

With early season tournament play now over, the Lady Barons have a lot of experiences that they can learn from as the team moves on through the rest of the season.

"There are definitely some things we want to do differently," Herrmann said. "It will be good to play a home match next, good to play Baldwin Wallace again."

The Lady Barons will play the first match of the season in Finnegan Fieldhouse on September 14 at 7 pm against fellow tournament opponent Baldwin Wallace.