On Friday our bus departed for Brockport, where six SUNYAC volleyball teams would gather for the first third of conference play. Our lineup would start with Brockport, and conclude with Saturday matches against Buff St. and New Paltz. The two later teams are typically very strong in the conference, and Brockport has had some impressive wins thus far, so we knew we'd be in for a challenging weekend.
Our Friday match against Brockport started off fierce, as we took the first set 26-24. Our offense was inconsistent in the first set, as our hitting percentage was only .075, but we quickly took over the match as we hit .350 through the final two sets, winning both 25-16 and 25-14. In bears very special mention that Kaitlin Orcutt had one of her finest matches as a college volleyball player, totaling 17 kills in only three sets, and hitting above .550! Wow! Way to go KO!! Sara rounded out our left side attack with nine kills.
After a restful sleep at the Holiday Inn Airport, we returned to Brockport for our second match against Buff St. We dropped two matches to Buff St. last season so we hoped for some redemption this time around. Unfortunately we wouldn't be able to stop their powerful hitters as we lost the match in four sets, 18-25, 25-21, 26-24, 19-25. Jess had 11 kills while Paulina had 10. Defensively, Hokaj and Brit Kelly had 16 digs and 15 digs respectively.
Our final match against New Paltz would be another tough one. New Paltz competes for the conference title every year, and this year won't be an exception. KO again had an excellent match from the outside, totaling 14 kills and hitting .350, but it wouldn't be enough as New Paltz's hitters proved to be too much for our floor defense. Set scores were 22-25, 25-23, 18-25, and 23-25. Kelly had a particularly strong match both from the setter spot and defensively, finishing with 35 assists and 13 digs.
Having a losing record in the conference isn't a fun feeling, but we also understand there's a long road ahead. The margin of victory in this conference is very slim, and the team that improves the most from now until November will be the one competing for the conference title. Back to work!