WOOSTER – The Franciscan volleyball team dropped a pair of 3-0 matches to Marietta and Bluffton to open the Marcia French Memorial, Friday night.

The Lady Barons faced a familiar foe this year as the opened the tournament against Marietta. Last Saturday, FUS defeated the Pioneers 3-0 at Kuzma Court. Tonight, Marietta came out on the winning side by set scores of 25-16, 25-17, 25-23.

Sophomore setter Becca Haven led the Lady Barons with nine kills against Marietta whole dishing out 11 assists. Sophomore Callahan Hickey posted 17 digs while Maria Ciola had a balanced game with seven kills, nine digs, and four assists.

"We were playing a little frustrated tonight; some of our key players were playing a little tired so that was difficult," remarked head coach Kelly Herrmann.

Franciscan capped the night with a 3-0 loss to Bluffton though coach Herrmann saw some better play out of the Lady Barons in the evening match.

"We started to play better in the third set. We had a long delay that took us out of the game. We need to learn and move on from that. We have to play better tomorrow and come out and play better. We did get some good setting out of Mary (Moore) and Rachel (Potopa). It was a good experience to be able to work out some issues and work on Plan B and C."

The Lady Barons fell to Bluffton by set scores of 25-15, 25-18, 25-17. Haven handed out 11 assists while Rachel Potopa chipped in eight. Hickey once again led the team in the back row with 12 digs and freshman Roz Pridemore chipped in five kills.

Franciscan returns to the court tomorrow when the team faces Wooster and Capital at 10am and 12pm.