MARIETTA, Ohio – The Franciscan volleyball team concluded the River City Classic hosted by Marietta Saturday with a split of their two matches. The Lady Barons lost to Mount St. Joseph, 3-0, before taking the final match against Berea, 3-2.
 
Franciscan dropped its first match of the day to Mount St. Joseph by set scores of 25-22, 25-13, 25-17). Sophomore Renee Antonelli led the Lady Barons with 13 kills while junior Meghan Bayer posted 12. Sophomore Emily Nutter handed out 16 assists and junior Sydney Riley dished out 11.
 
"In the first game (sic) against Mount we came out strong but we struggled on serve receive in the final two sets," remarked head coach Kelly Herrmann. "The struggle on serve receive continued into the second match but we were able to re-group, play more relaxed, and really focus on passing."
 
In the second match of the day, Franciscan won the first two sets 25-23 and 27-25 before dropping the next two 25-19 and 25-21 to force a fifth set. Franciscan held a 9-2 lead at the change-over and went on to win 15-9 to secure the match.
 
"I was very happy with how the girls hung together, didn't point fingers when mistakes were made, and worked as team to fix and move on," continued Coach Herrmann. "We had a long delay during the second match and the girls used the time to relax. We play better when we are happy and relaxed and that showed on the court."
 
Bayer led the Lady Barons with 23 kills, a career-high for the middle hitter, and Antonelli posted 17. Riley handed out 25 assists while Nutter added 23. Bayer also led the team with 23 digs.
 
"Today was an interesting day for us," remarked Coach Herrmann. "Marykate (Taylor) was playing out of position as our outside but she really played within herself. She was smart on the block and took some really hard swings. We are working through some injuries and have players out of position for now. But we fared better this year in the opening weekend than we did last year and once we get our injured players back, we will continue to move forward and get better."
 
The Lady Barons will return to action Tuesday, this time on their home court, as they host Chatham for a 7pm match at Kuzma Court.