STEUBENVILLE – The Franciscan volleyball team played in its second-straight five-set AMCC match as the visiting Pitt.-Bradford Panthers took the Lady Barons to a fifth set Saturday afternoon. Franciscan came out on top with a 3-2 victory.

In an evenly matched back and forth affair, the Lady Barons jumped out to an early 8-4 lead in the first set. The Panthers battled back and tied the set up at 13-13 before FUS rattled off three-straight points to take a 16-13 lead. Franciscan kept a steady lead until the Panthers tied the game at 21-21, and again at 22-22 and 23-23. The Panthers tied the game for a final time at 24-24 and served two straight points to take the first set, 26-24.

Franciscan kept pushing forward and once again took an early set lead, 9-7, in the second before pushing the advantage to 15-10 thanks in part to four-straight attack errors for UPB. After the Lady Barons lost the serve at 15-11, junior Maria Ciola crushed a kill to get the serve back to Franciscan, 16-11. Franciscan did not relinquish the five-point lead and pushed it to 22-16 before UPB battled back to make it 22-20. Franciscan closed out the set with a 3-1 run to take the second set 25-21 and tied the match at 1-1.

The Panthers jumped to the early lead in the third set as the Panthers led 6-1 after one rotation. Franciscan didn't back down and used a 10-3 run to take the lead, 11-9, off another kill from Ciola. The two teams spent the next 11 points on each side of the court battling back and forth until the Panthers eventually took the 21-20 lead. UPB closed out the third set with a  slim 4-3 advantage to win 25-23 and take a 2-1 lead in the match.

Franciscan came out in the fourth set on fire and raced to a 14-5 lead thanks to timely serving and dominant play at the net. The Lady Barons used a Maddie Raffa kill and Sydney Riley ace to push their lead to 17-8. The Panthers chipped away at the lead but did not have an answer for the strong hitting of the Lady Barons. UPB did pull to within two at 22-20, but an untimely Panther attack error and two strong serves from Riley gave Franciscan the 25-20 win and tied the match at 2-2.

Franciscan and Pitt.-Bradford went back and forth in the fifth and final set as the score was tied 4-4 early. The Lady Barons then used a 6-1 run to take the lead 10-5 and control of the set. The Panthers got the serve back at 10-6 but Franciscan quickly answered with two points to take a 12-6 lead. UPB served three-straight points to get to within three, but once again Riley's strong serving served the Lady Barons well as they closed out the match with three-straight points to win 3-2.

Ciola led all players with 20 kills and 13 digs while Raffa and Meghan Bayer each chipped in 12 kills. Maddy Demos finished the day with 13 digs and Riley dished out a career-best 39 assists in the five-set win.

Franciscan takes a short break from conference play when the Lady Barons travel to Geneva for a 7pm contest on Wednesday, October 4.