LEBANON, Tenn. - A young Freed-Hardeman volleyball team showed signs of maturity on Friday, bouncing back from a tough straight-sets loss to conference foe Bethel (Tenn.) to win two matches on the first day of the Cumberland University Classic.

FHU came back from a 2-1 deficit to defeat Shawnee State (Ohio) University, then capped the day with a three-set sweep of Union (Ky.) College.

The wins improved the Lady Lions to 5-5 on the season.

Neither of the first two sets in the opener against Shawnee State was close, with SSU winning the first 25-18 and FHU dominating the second 25-11. Shawnee retook the lead with a 25-21 win in the third set, but Freed-Hardeman pulled away midway through the fourth set for a 25-20 win to go to the fifth set.

In that final set, FHU jumped out to a 7-2 lead and never trailed on its way to a 15-9 win that was capped off by a Callie West service ace.

Fernanda Ferreira had 19 kills in the match while Allie Moss added 17.

Freed-Hardeman continued to build momentum in the next match, winning each set more comfortably on its way to a sweep of Union College.

Trailing 24-21 in the first set, the Lady Lions took five straight rallies to post the comeback win. Ferreira got things started with three consecutive kills before it was the defense's turn to take over. Ferreira and Renata Ferreira each teamed with Amanda Cunningham for blocks to end the set.

In the second set, it was four straight points late that helped FHU to a 25-20 win. With the set tied at 17, the Lady Lions got two kills from Moss sandwiched between two UC errors to extend the lead to four.

In the third set, FHU jumped ahead early to lead 14-5 and the Bulldogs would only be able to pull within six points the rest of the way.

Ferreira (18 kills) and Moss (15 kills) again led the attack for Freed-Hardeman.

FHU improved its attacking proficiency from the night before, committing only 19 errors in the five-set win over SSU and 14 errors in the three-set win over UC. The Lady Lions had 25 attack errors in three sets in the loss to Bethel.

Freed-Hardeman concluded the classic tomorrow against host Cumberland (Tenn.) University at 9:00 AM followed by Campbellsville (Ky.) University at 1:00 PM.