BUFFALO, N.Y.—The Lady Barons opened conference play in dominating fashion, defeating both D'Youville College and Hilbert College in straight sets. The Lady Barons beat D'Youville 25-19, 25-20, and 25-15 and Hilbert 25-19, 25-16, and 25-20.  

"I just kept encouraging the girls to relax, play, and just go for it. That's when we play best," head coach Kelly Hermann said. "We were a little nervous in the beginning and had to get over a little bit of that and play aggressively and fired up."

In the first match against D'Youville, the Lady Barons were controlling all aspects of the match: offense, defense, serving and blocking. Senior setter/right side hitter Amy O'Keefe and junior outside hitter Dani Link led the offensive attack, with Link being particularly effective in both matches to make up for O'Keefe having less chances to hit.

"Dani was hitting the line extremely well. Neither team had an answer for it," Hermann said. "Because neither team was particularly strong blocking, the hitters could kind of relax a little bit."

Hilbert proved to be a completely different opponent. Herrmann said although Hilbert was playing short-handed with various injuries they played with nothing to lose, giving the Lady Barons a tough battle even though it was a straight set match.

The Lady Baron's defense rose to the occasion led by junior libero Samantha Kelly who had to defend against Hilbert's strong middle hitters. Herrmann said Kelly did not disappoint.

"Hilbert's coach commented on Sam's play after the match," Hermann said. "Hilbert's #14 was probably their strongest hitter, and Sam frustrated her by getting to a lot of her balls."

Hermann added that although it was a battle, she felt comfortable with the Lady Baron's play against Hilbert and was able to try a few different things, mixing her rotations and giving newer girls playing time.

Freshmen right side hitter Bella Wedig and middle hitter Maria Hruby both got to play a full game during the Hilbert match, gaining valuable conference playing time experience, while middle hitter Anna McCarty also played most of the second match.

"It's good to have a match like this where different girls get a chance to play so that when they are coming off the bench in tough situations, everyone has confidence in them and they feel more comfortable on the court," Hermann said.

The Lady Barons will take the confidence gained from these two matches to Penn State-Altoona for their next match on October 1 at 7 pm.