STEUBENVILLE, Ohio -- The Franciscan University Lady Barons celebrated Halloween with their first playoff win ever, against the Hilbert College Lady Hawks. The Lady Barons blanked the Hawks, three games to zero with final scores of 25-22, 26-24, and 25-14. Franciscan celebrated its inaugural victory at home, the first of many milestones head coach Kelly Herrmann wants to accomplish.

"This is the strongest team we have ever had," Herrmann said. "Which is amazing when you consider that we have eight freshmen."

Herrmann attributed her team's success to their ability to not commit errors. As a whole, the Lady Barons had 33 kills and only eight errors. That three to one ratio can blank even the toughest opponents.

"I really feel like we are where we want to be," Herrmann said. "Our hitting percentage is higher than it's ever been. Our serving is better than it's ever been. In almost every stat, we are stronger than we have ever been."

The Lady Barons took the momentum from the Hawks in the first game and never let the Hawks take any kind of damage control. FUS stopped every possible comeback by their opponent and scratched and clawed to win the second game that ended in extra points. The Lady Barons fed off the exuberant crowd and cruised to their first playoff win in game three.

"I keep telling my team to have fun. Sometimes our biggest enemy is ourselves. We can take ourselves too seriously sometimes," Herrmann said. "When we play relaxed and loose, we typically play better volleyball."

Senior, Anna Cain, highlighted the Lady Baron's offensive by earning her 1,000 kill of her career, finishing with 14 kills on the night. Dani Link scored 11 kills to round out the Lady Barons potent offense. Amy O'Keefe set up her teammates well with 26 assists on the night.

Defensively, Christina Lawrence had 18 digs, O'Keefe had 10 digs and Sam Kelly had 10 digs.

Coach Herrmann talked about a new winning tradition she wants to introduce back to Franciscan.

"We don't ever want to take success for granted," Herrmann said. "We want to build a tradition where this isn't new. Where this is expected. We want to demand more of ourselves.

After their Halloween victory, the Lady Barons are set to play Medaille College Lady Mavericks on Nov. 3. Franciscan lost to the Lady Mavericks earlier in the season, but the Lady Barons current hot streak will present an opportunity to avenge their loss.