PITTSBURGH, Pa. – La Roche volleyball won its sixth straight game, defeating Franciscan in a 3-2 thriller at home on Wednesday night.
The opening set was dominated by the Redhawks (6-2, 0-0 AMCC) as they won 25-13.
La Roche jumped ahead early with a 7-2 run and ultimately grew the lead to 14-5.
Despite the Lady Barons trimming the deficit to 14-9, a 5-0 Redhawks run opened up a 10-point, 19-9 lead and from there, La Roche would punctuate the set scoring six of the final 10 points.
Set two was a little closer, with the Redhawks winning 25-19.
La Roche once again sparked early, opening the set with an 8-2 run to take an early, commanding lead.
Franciscan would climb back and take the lead, scoring 11 of the next 14 points to make it a 13-11 lead in favor of the Lady Barons.
However, the Redhawks would dominate down the stretch, outscoring Franciscan 14-6 to close out the set.
In the third set, the Lady Barons charged ahead with a 5-0 run and never allowed the set to come any closer than three points, taking it by a final score of 25-18.
Set four saw La Roche open fast, leading 7-3 over the first 10 points, but a 5-0 run gave Franciscan the lead at 8-7.
The Redhawks fought back to take the lead at 16-15 as time went on and also led 17-16 after trading points, but the Lady Barons went on to score nine of the final 10 to close out the set with another 25-18 score to force a deciding fifth set.
In the deciding set, La Roche again started fast, jumping ahead 6-3 in the early stages, but the lead was cut to 8-6 as the teams switched sides.
After alternating points, the Redhawks had a brief 2-0 run and grew the lead to 11-8, but again Franciscan would utilize a 6-1 run to make it 14-12 with game point.
La Roche never buckled facing that final game point and would go on to score the final four points of the set, with the help of three Lady Baron attack errors to win the match.
On the night, sophomore Kalli Grine led the offense with nine kills, while junior Quinn Hughes added seven and senior Lauren Tomasko followed with six.
Senior Madison Johnson was the team leader with 15 assists, while fellow senior Emily Kasun chipped in 10.
Defensively, senior Mackenzie Kerkan led the team with 30 digs, while Tomasko added 23 and senior Morgan Johnson dug out 18.
With now six matches won in a row, the Redhawks return to action on Saturday, Sept. 16 for a tri-match with Penn State Dubois and Penn State Beaver, taking place at 1:30 and 3 p.m. from Penn State Beaver.
Should La Roche sweep the day, the Redhawks would set a new program record with eight consecutive wins. The current record sits at seven straight, set in the 2018-19 season.