Box Score STEUBENVILLE – The Franciscan volleyball team dropped a heart-breaking 3-2 match to visiting Oberlin, Friday evening.
After falling behind in the match, 2-1, the Lady Barons appeared to have their backs against the wall down 21-17 in the fourth set. Franciscan took advantage of an Oberlin service error and got the service back. Freshman Maddie Raffa has been the model of consistency on the service line for the Lady Barons this season and her tough serves proved once again to be a difference maker. With Raffa serving, the Lady Barons scored four-straight points to take a 22-21 lead. Annie Nehrbas aided in all three blocks the Lady Barons registered in the four-point span while Monica Rigaud chipped in help on two of them. The Yeowomen tied the set at 22-22 but another Oberlin service error gave the lead back to FUS, 23-22. Oberlin earned its first match point at 25-24 behind a kill and a Lady Baron attack error but Oberlin's attack error on the next play tied the game again at 25-25. The Yeowomen took the lead 26-25 but a bad set got the Lady Barons alive at 26-26. Franciscan earned its first set point off an Oberlin attack error and was poised to take the set but a pair of kills from Oberlin gave the Yeowomen a 28-27 lead. A ball handling error and Raffa kill gave the Lady Barons yet another set point but Oberlin was not about to back down and tied the game again at 29-29. Nehrbas took advantage of an overpass at the net and slammed the ball home to give the Lady Barons their final set point of the game at 30-29 and an Oberlin attack error on the next play sealed the win for Franciscan, 31-29, and set the match to a fifth set.
"I was very proud of the team and how they battled back in the fourth game. That was awesome. Maddie Demos came in and was our 15th sub and if we rotated one more time, she would have been our middle hitter. It's those experiences we need to learn from and they did a great job at the end of that fourth set," remarked head coach Kelly Herrmann.
Oberlin raced out to a 4-0 lead in the fifth set and never relinquished control. The Lady Barons pulled to within two, 10-8, but the Yeowomen scored five-straight points to clinch the win at 15-8 and the match, 3-2.
The Lady Barons took a commanding 16-11 lead in the opening set. Freshman Roz Pridemore eventually put FUS up 20-15 before Nehrbas pushed the lead to six with a kill at 22-16. Raffa served the Lady Barons to their first set point of the match, 24-20 but a kill from Dana Thomas extended the first set at 24-20. Rigaud put it away with a kill from Rachel Potopa and the Lady Barons took a 1-0 lead in the match behind a 25-20 set win.
"The games that we won we hit .300 and .204 and the games that we lost we hit very poorly. That's the key. You have to pass well to hit well and we were just too inconsistent tonight," continued coach Herrmann.
The Yeowomen easily won the second set, 25-13, and took a 2-1 lead in the match with a 25-18 win in the third set before the Lady Barons forced a fourth set.
"Becca Haven played really well, she had eight kills and Monica Rigaud had eight kills, offensively – Monica and Becca really carried the team. We were too inconsistent at times to really get our other hitters involved."
"Overall I still think this was a step in the right direction and I keep telling the girls that you have to take their experiences and learn from it and get better from it and we look forward to playing La Roche on Tuesday."
The Lady Barons travel to Pittsburgh, Pa. on Tuesday to face La Roche in AMCC action at 7pm.
