STEUBENVILLE, Ohio – Franciscan women's volleyball put up a fight against nationally ranked Carnegie Mellon University, losing in four sets 28-30, 12-25, 25-22 and 19-25.

The Tartans came into the match ranked 20th in Division III volleyball with an overall record of 14-1.

"When you can play a team like Carnegie Mellon close, that's certainly an accomplishment in and of itself," head coach Kelly Herrmann said. "I have a lot of respect for Carnegie Mellon and their volleyball program and it's good for us to play teams like that when we show up like we did today. I think that we can continue to build on this performance."

Franciscan was able to build up a small, six-point lead in the first set, already an improvement over the two teams' last matchup two weeks ago. However, the Tartans were not going down without a fight, tying the set at 21 and fighting off six set points to win the set 30-28.

Carnegie Mellon came out with all the momentum in the second set and the Lady Barons could not keep up. Even with a final set score of 25-12, Herrmann was still pleased with her team's play.

"That first game got away from us. We should have won that game but I really like how the girls faltered a little bit in the second game and then came back really strong in the third and won it," Herrmann said. "Girls are communicating, girls are thinking, girls are playing aggressive. Even with the second game, I thought really we played with the kind of confidence and composure you really want to see in the match." 

Sophomore outside hitter Monica Fischer and freshman defensive specialist Callahan Hickey came in during the second set to give some of the starters a little bit of a breather. Fischer finished with one kill and three digs while Hickey had two digs and two service aces.

"That was a really good learning experience for our team to have Monica and Callahan come in and help out and play well," Herrmann said. "They got thrown into some pretty tough situations. Monica is really turning into a really solid, all-around composed player and Callahan served very tough today. It's really great when you see the young players get that chance and to see them respond well."

Franciscan was able to battle back to win a tough third set thanks to the offense of freshman outside hitter Maria Ciola, who played on the right side for the third match in a row. Ciola played the best overall game, leading the team with 11 kills and also adding 13 digs.

"Her composure in her attack, where she was spreading the floor and moving the ball around, that was just smart play, not just aggressive play," Herrmann said. "Another thing, Maria did very well in serve receive. She hasn't played a lot of back row in her life but her serve receive was incredible. She has extremely strong hands."

Herrmann made another change in the lineup, letting junior Mary Moore split time as setter with freshman Becca Haven. Moore is a new setter, just learning the position her sophomore year and finished the Carnegie Mellon match with 20 assists, the team leader.

"Mary, who is a veteran, calm, cool, collected player on the court all the time, even though she's a new setter, she's doing really well and she's a great defender in the back row," Herrmann said.

After a tough nonconference schedule, AMCC play begins this weekend with a quad-match. Herrmann was pleased with her team's performance in their last nonconference match but said that they still have a lot of things to work on and they can't take any conference opponents lightly.

"In the conference, the crucial thing is one match at a time," Herrmann said. "Don't think you can check out and take a break against any conference opponent, that is never the case. We see lots of surprises, lots of upsets in our conference. We've got to be ready to play."

Franciscan will take on D'Youville College and Hilbert College in an AMCC quad-match taking place at Penn St.-Altoona on September 26 at 12 and 1 p.m.