Nov. 10, 2009
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CLARION – Kellie Bartman and Rebecca Webb combined for 27 kills to lead the Clarion University women’s volleyball team to a 3-1 win over visiting Edinboro in the opening round of the PSAC Playoffs Tuesday night at Tippin Gym.
With the victory, the Golden Eagles (26-8), the second seed from the PSAC-West, move into the PSAC Semifinals at Lock Haven Friday night. Lock Haven (29-4) is the top seed from the PSAC-East. Clarion beat Lock Haven 3-2 at California earlier this season.
“I think overall we played very well,” Clarion head coach Jennifer Harrison said. “I was happy with our ball control and so much happier with our play on defense. We did some things on defense tonight that kept us in rallies and forced them to make some errors.”
After splitting the first two sets 25-18, 16-25, Clarion found itself down to Edinboro (22-12) 15-14 in the third set before going on a 9-5 run that was fueled by two kills apiece by Bartman, Webb and Nicole Andrusz to take a 23-20 lead and eventually the set.
Then in the fourth set, Clarion found itself deadlocked at 19 with Edinboro before the teams traded points over the next few rallied to see the set tied at 23. Clarion then took the lead for good on a Kaitlyn Anderson kill before winning the set and the match following a long rally then ended when Edinboro’s Megan Osysko hit the ball long. That sparked a celebration from the crowd of over 250 with victorious chants of “CU, CU, CU” raining down on the players.
“It really means a lot to advance in the PSAC Playoffs,” sophomore Libero Rhianon Brady, who had 19 digs, said. “We have been working really hard. We worked so hard this season. This has been our goal to make the PSAC Tournament, and we are really very excited. We were all very pumped for this game.”
Bartman led Clarion’s offense with 15 kills while adding six digs, and Webb had 12 kills, four blocks and two digs. Anderson added eight kills and Andrusz chipped in with six kills. Alison Bolinger added 12 digs on defense, and Amanda Gough had 36 set assists, two kills and eight digs.
Gina Boothe paced Edinboro with 14 kills, and Olivia Williams added 10 kills and 15 digs. Maureen Tilert had a team-high 16 digs for the Fighting Scots, and Osysko had 43 set assists.
NOTES – It was the first-ever PSAC Playoff home game for Clarion, which had hosted eight PSAC-West playoff matches at home prior to Tuesday night. Clarion is now 7-2 all-time in home playoff matches and moved to 26-25 in its history in postseason play … The Golden Eagles are looking for a return trip to the PSAC Finals, something they did in 2007 before falling to California in the title game. Clarion won the PSAC Championship in 1988 and finished second in 1989.
