Franciscan 7, Pitt.-Greensburg 0

    The Barons faced the University of Pittsburgh at Greensbug at home yesterday. After a tough loss to their PAC rival Presidents earlier in the week, the Barons were facing another tough challenge against a perennial AMCC powerhouse Greensburg. The interesting story line for the day was how have the programs adapted to missing their hall of fame caliber players. Each team graduated a 3-time conference player of the year. With yesterday's match we got to see just how each of these programs have moved on from these players.

Doubles
    The Barons swept doubles play to take the one team doubles point available. Greensburg was short-handed and forced to resign the #3 doubles match, so all the Barons had to do was win one of the two doubles matches to take the team point. Both the #1 and #2 doubles pairs defeated their opponents quickly in 6-1 sets. These matches set the stage for the remainder of the day.

Singles
   Claire Cardie had a battle at the #1 spot going to a third tiebreaker set. Cardie's play style wears opponents down. She lost her first set 3-6, but by the second set she had a large advantage in grit and energy. She won the second set 6-1, then took the tiebreak set 10-3. Once again, Greensburg was forced to forfeit two singles matches due to numbers issues. The remaining Barons quickly dispatched their opponents, and the Barons got back to their winning ways.

Next Up
    Franciscan will return to PAC play next week with a pair of home matchups. They set their focus now on Saint Vincent, who comes to Steubenville for a 4:30 p.m. match on Monday. The Barons are 9-0 all-time against the Bearcats, but Saint Vincent has played very well this season. They will enter this game with a 3-1 PAC record with their lone loss coming to Allegheny. Winner of this match will have the head to head tiebreaker, which may be relevent for seeding come the PAC Tournament. 

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