Free State High senior Paige Corcoran makes a dig during the Firebird's volleyball match against Bishop Miege Wednesday at FSHS.

Not only did Free State High volleyball players get beat by Bishop Miege on Wednesday night, but they beat themselves.

The Firebirds fought for two sets, but lost their confidence during the third in a straight-set loss to Miege, 30-28, 25-22, 25-7, at FSHS.

After the match, FSHS senior Sydney Moreano and junior Allison Knapp gave passionate pleas to their teammates about turning their season around after a lackluster effort in the third set and falling into a three-match losing streak.

“I think a lot of the time we struggle with staying intense,” Moreano said afterward, fighting back tears. “I just feel like we gave up. It’s just frustrating. We have so much talent, and we have so much potential. We just don’t have the confidence.”

The Firebirds (12-15) trailed for most of the first set before knotting the score at 19. The two schools traded points until the end of the set, as the Stags had a few attacking errors, and Free State sophomores Emma Barberena and Naomi Hickman provided big kills.

“I was really proud of the way our team played the first set,” said Moreano, who had a team-high eight kills. “We lost. We just didn’t finish. But I think at the beginning of the season, that team would have just killed us.”

In the second set, Moreano, Hickman and Barberena led the offensive attack, assisted by sophomore Payton Gannaway and junior Lauren Johnson, but the Stags pulled away after tying the score at 20.

Bishop Miege jumped to a 6-0 lead in the third set before the Firebirds called a timeout.

It eventually turned into a 15-5 lead as the Stags just sucked the life out of the gym.

“We fight so hard, and we play our top-notch game, and then something bad will happen,” said Knapp, who had three kills and six digs. “We need to work to control that, fix that, and jump back from that.”