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Box Score 2 WOOSTER, Ohio—The Lady Barons improved overall throughout the day despite two 3-0 losses to Wooster and Oberlin in the second day of the Wooster Kilt Classic.
Franciscan fell to Wooster in the first match 16-25, 18-25, and 18-25 as they struggled to recover from two matches the previous day.
"Against Wooster, our team didn't play particularly well," head coach Kelly Hermann said. "Our offense continues to struggle from the errors."
Hermann said that despite the rough patches there were some positive offensive moments in the first match. Junior and freshman outside hitters Dani Link and Faith Laidley worked well together with ten and six kills respectively. Laidley played strong defensively as well, contributing 16 digs.
"We hadn't seen Faith play yet this season because of her elbow injury," Herrmann said. "She did a really good job and was playing very good defense. She's just a very good all-around player."
The Lady Barons were able to make some improvements in the second match against Oberlin, playing their best match of the tournament despite the eventual loss with set scores of 27-25, 15-25, 21-25 and 23-25. Hermann relied on her veteran returners to provide some consistency in that second match.
"In general, we played better," Hermann said. "We were challenging them more offensively."
Senior setter Amy O'Keefe continued her contributions from the previous night, helping secure the Lady Baron offense. Hermann said that she will continue to work with using two setters to set up O'Keefe more often.
"She continues to hit the ball well," Hermann said. "Amy is too good of a hitter not to hit, and giving her opportunities helps our offense to be less predictable."
Hermann said that the hitting and offense will continue to improve as the team plays more together but that she was impressed with her team's defense once again despite so many service errors and a low hitting percentage.
"It's never a lack of effort," Hermann said about her team's defense. "I thought we were pretty focused today in general. We played well defensively, and that's always going to be a strength for us."
The Lady Barons look to end their current losing streak at home on September 17 against fellow Wooster Kilt Classic participant Muskingum at 7 pm.
