STEUBENVILLE - On a day when the Franciscan women's volleyball team joined local teams and teams across the country to raise awareness and funds for breast cancer research with a Dig Pink Day (Side-Out Foundation), the Lady Barons came out victorious with a 3-0 sweep of Marietta. 

The Lady Barons got off to a rocky start in the first set, finding themselves down 7-2 and then 10-3. A couple well-called timeouts by head coach Kelly Herrmann allowed the team to catch their collective breath and regroup.

"I called that first timeout, we were down 7-2, and I said, yeah you guys might tired from playing last night but they played two matches last night. ... It's tough to play in the evening and come out and play early in the day but it's good practice for us, we got to be able to do this. Once we had that time out, we stayed calm and played with a lot of composure, it was great to see," remarked coach Herrmann.

Franciscan began to chip away and the strong serving of sophomore Maria Ciola carried the Lady Barons on a 5-0 run and pulled them within two points. 10-8. The Pioneers staved off the Franciscan attack however and did not allow the Lady Barons to get closer than three points. That was until Becca Haven took a turn at the service line and helped the Lady Barons to a 4-0 run and FUS led for the first time in the match, 17-16. The Pioneers got a pair of side outs to take their last lead of the 18-17 before the Lady Barons rallied for a 25-23 set win.

The tides turned in the second set and Franciscan built a commanding 10-3 lead in the second set to ultimately take control of the match. The Lady Barons continued strong offensive play in the second set and hit .526 for the set, including zero errors. The consistent hitting led FUS to a 25-18 win in the second set to take a 2-0 lead in the match. 

Franciscan's momentum carried the team into the third set as the Lady Barons got out to a 7-2 lead to kick off the final set. The Pioneers climbed back in and pulled within two, 10-8, but Juli Buehnerkemper impressed behind the service line and served five-straight points to give FUS a 16-8 lead. Despite a quick spurt at the end of the match for the Pioneers cut the lead to 24-18, a Marietta service error ended the match and gave the Lady Barons a 3-0 win. 

Ciola led the Lady Barons with 10 kills while Haven dished out 28 assists. Monica Rigaud continues to impress with nine kills for the second-straight night. Sophomore Callahan Hickey tallied 12 digs for the night. 

"Monica Rigaud continues to surprise me. ... It's just interesting to see how the right side suits her. She is playing really well and learning how to adjust to a set that's not in the exact spot," commented coach Herrmann. 

Herrmann continued, "I felt like Maria and Mary (Moore) both had really good all-around games, serving, defending, hitting. Maria's ability to see the block and hit around and through it is really impressive. I thought both middles did well. We definitely have things to work on but I think we are getting better each game."

"Hopefully we will be a significantly better team two weeks from two weeks when our conference season starts. That's the goal."

The Lady Barons hit the road again on Monday as they face Baldwin-Wallace at 7pm.