STEUBENVILLE – The Franciscan volleyball team wrapped up a thrilling 3-2 victory over Chatham on Tuesday night with a decisive 15-9 win in the fifth set. The Lady Barons won the first two set 25-22, 25-19 before dropping sets three and four 26-24, 25-13.
 
"That was kind of a mirror match of Berea on Saturday," remarked head coach Kelly Herrmann. "We were plugging along and off of a sudden we hit a rough patch. We worked on serving and blocking a lot at practice last night and I thought we did really well. Then our serve receive kind of had weak moments. When we were passing well and hitting, they really didn't have an answer for us. We just can't have those weak moments."
 
Chatham seemingly took control of the first set early by jumping out to a quick 11-4 lead before Franciscan rattled off six-straight points behind MaryKate Taylor's serving. Taylor had a pair of service aces and sophomore Renee Antonelli picked up a pair of kills to cut the Cougar lead to 11-10.
 
The Lady Barons eventually tied the set at 13-13 and took a 17-13 lead thanks in part to the strong serving of sophomore Caite O'Malley. The Cougars eventually tied the set again at 22-22 but Taylor served three-straight points for the 25-22 win.
 
In the second set, it was Franciscan's turn to take the quick lead as the Lady Barons jumping out to a 6-1 advantage. Chatham would chip away but never threatened the Franciscan lead as the Lady Barons took a 2-0 set advantage with the 25-19 win.
 
In the third set, Franciscan held a 20-14 lead but Chatham was able to chip away at the advantage and tie the game at 22-22 this time. Neither team backed down and the Cougars had set point twice before taking the 26-24 win to force a fourth set.
 
Chatham rolled to a 25-13 in the fourth set to force a deciding fifth set.
 
The Cougars won the coin toss but elected to receive and put the ball in junior Sydney Riley's hands. Riley served the set's first five points, three coming from a service ace.
 
Junior Meghan Bayer earned the eighth point for the Lady Barons for the switch over and Taylor and O'Malley gave the Lady Barons a 9-3 lead with a successful block.
 
Franciscan pushed their lead to 10-3 but the Cougars pulled to within three, 11-8, before Franciscan took a 12-9 lead. An unforced Chatham error got the ball back to the service line for Franciscan and O'Malley gave Franciscan its first match point with a service ace. Antonelli closed out the match with her 14^th kill for the 15-9 win.
 
"I am really pleased with Meghan and Renee's play tonight," remarked Coach Herrmann. "When we get our middles going and really clean up that hitting, I think we are going to be  less predictable."
 
Bayer led the Lady Barons with 18 kills while Antonelli added 14. Riley handed out 19 assists while sophomore Emily Nutter added 15.
 
The Lady Barons dominated on the service line as at they posted 19 aces. O'Malley led with eight while Taylor and Riley each added four.
 
Franciscan will return to the court on Thursday as the Lady Barons host Waynesburg at 7pm.