Franciscan 3, Waynesburg 1

Franciscan Starters 
Gracie Francis, Cassidy McCollum, Rani Hebert, Brynn Jacobson,  Grace Wallace, Angela Sweeney, & libero - Sara Moore 

How It Happened 
Franciscan Women's Volleyball made the trip south to Waynesburg on Thursday night to take on the Yellow Jackets. The Barons would drop the opening set, but regroup to win in four sets. Rani Hebert would lead the way with 19.5 points and 22 digs, as the graduate student led the Barons to victory. 

Franciscan would try a different starting lineup tonight with a pair of freshman in to start off the night. McCollum and Sweeney would make an immediate impact with early kills to give Franciscan a 5-2 lead to start the opening set. The Yellow Jackets would respond to tie it up at 8-8. Then the Barons would retake the lead with a 3-0 run that included a Sara Moore ace. The Barons would maintain that lead to an 18-5 margin, as Rani Hebert would get her night going with three kills in a short period of time. The Yellow Jackets would respond once more with a 5-0 run that forced two timeouts, but the Barons would not regroup this set. Waynesburg would take the opening set by a score of 25-20.

Set two would be a different story. The Yellow Jackets took an early 5-3 edge, but a Franciscan 10-0 run would give them a strong lead on this set. Disselkamp would get her night going with a couple of kills and the Yellow Jackets would get sloppy with several attack errors. The Barons would close the second set off with a 4-0 run to take it in commanding fashion, 25-11.

It looked as if we were going to alternate winning sets this night, as the Yellow Jackets would be the first to 15 points at 15-12 in the third set. They would even extend the lead to five at 20-15, but the Barons would dig deep and battle. Mary Jean Cadman started the momentum shift with a pair of kills on a 3-0 run to force a Waynesburg timeout. Then a 5-0 run with two kills from Gabrielle Disselkamp would give Franciscan control at 23-21. The Barons could not shut the door, as the Yellow Jackets stormed back to tie it up at 24-24. It would now be a win-by-two situation. Each team would have several match-point opportunities with the other clutching up to tie it back up and live another play. Finally Hebert and Davis strung together kills to take this set at 31-29. 

The Barons now had all the momentum, as there was no doubt that they would win this match now. That was evident by their 9-0 run to start the fourth set. It would not be Waynesburg errors that were giving Franciscan points, as they were getting kill after kill. The Yellow Jackets would rarely be within single digits of the lead, as the Barons would dominate en route to a 25-10 win in this set to win 3-1 on the day. 

Inside the Numbers 
- Hebert had a season-high 17 kills 
- This is Hebert's third game with an attack percentage of over .300, all three have been wins for Franciscan.
- Hebert also tied Moore with a team-high 22 digs which is a season-high for Hebert as well.
- Cadman swung it at a .318 clip with nine kills.

Who's Next? 
Franciscan will not play over the weekend, as they return to action on Tuesday when they hist Bethany at 7:00 p.m. at Finnegan Fieldhouse. This non-conference matchup will be a tough test for the Barons, as the Bison were selected as the favorites to win the PAC this season. Franciscan is looking to snap a streak of five straight losses to Bethany on Tuesday night. Last season, they played each other twice with the home match going into the fourth set. Renee Antonelli led the way for Franciscan with 12 kills in that game.

Stay Connected 
Be sure to follow Franciscan Athletics on Youtube, Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook for the most in-depth coverage.