“It's awesome,” Bartman said. “I've never won a championship ever in my life, and we hadn't won one at Clarion since 1988. It's a great feeling, and we had a lot of fun.”
Bartman had plenty of help Saturday night.
On defense,
Rhianon Brady kept many a rally going with 37 digs while adding a pair of set assists and an ace.
“The amount of balls Rhi dug tonight, she was unreal,” Clarion's fourth-year head coach Jennifer Harrison said. “She was absolutely fantastic. She kept us going in some long rallies, and that was pretty important.”
Amanda Gough set the offense up strong with 45 set assists and added six kills, a .556 hitting percentage and 13 digs.
“I think the girls' worked really hard for this,” Harrison said. “I'm really proud of them.
“I think it's huge for our program. I definitely think it helps put us on the map. And more than anything, I can't take the credit. The girls have to work. They have to work every day. They have to buy in. And they have to go out and do it. They all bought in and are doing the work. I'm so proud of them.”
Clarion (29-4) got off to a slow start losing the first match 25-22 but rebounded nicely taking the next three by scores of 25-16, 25-20 and 25-14.
“I think some of (the slow start) was some nerves,” Harrison said. “And I think some of it is Edinboro is a great team. We were playing on the defensive, and it's hard to play on the defensive against such a good team. But we were able to turn it around.”
The biggest point in the match might have come midway through the second set when Edinboro used a 7-3 run to take an 11-10 lead in the set. But Clarion answered with a 8-2 run of its own thanks to three kills each by Anderson and Bartman.
“I'm so proud of the way they have stepped up, the way they have developed,” Harrison said of her two junior outside hitters. “Kellie really struggled in the first game, they held her to zero. The nice thing about her is she is so comfortable at this point she is still going to take swings for you. She's still going to play aggressive. We got her on a roll, and Amanda did a really nice job of finding her.”
From that point on, Clarion seemed to ride the momentum wave to the title.
“I think in that situation in front of that crowd that was loud, the fact our players were able to keep their focus and ride the momentum was key,” Harrison said. “Once again, our crowd was fantastic. It's a lot of fun to play in front of a crowd like that.”
With the win, Clarion earns an automatic NCAA Division II Playoff berth. The playoff field will be announced at 10 p.m. Sunday via streaming video at
www.ncaa.com. It's Clarion's seventh NCAA D-II playoff berth since 2002.
“I think you enjoy this today, you enjoy it tomorrow, you relax a little bit tomorrow and we are back to work on Monday,” Harrison said. “This was a goal. I'm proud that we reached it. But we've got a lot more goals. One match at a time, I think it's good for their confidence. They know they can do it. They know they can handle it. I think it says a lot about them as a team.”
Edinboro (29-5), which is all but assured an NCAA playoff berth as well, was led by nine kills from Kelcie Hellmer and eight from Beyaca Martin. Angela Groshner added six kils and 16 digs with Megan Osysko chipping in 31 set assists and 10 digs.
NOTES – Clarion has now won 2 of 3 from Edinboro this season including both matches at Tippin Gym … The Golden Eagles improved to 29-27 all time in postseason play including 11-10 in PSAC Playoff action. Clarion is 10-2 at home in the postseason including 4-0 in PSAC Play … Edinboro came into the match ranked No. 1 in the Atlantic Region, Clarion was No. 2 … Clarion has beaten Edinboro in each of the last two PSAC playoffs knocking the Fighting Scots out in the quarterfinals last year … Clarion's 1988 PSAC Championship also came thanks to a 3-1 win over Edinboro … Clarion and Edinboro finished atop the PSAC-West this season with identical 17-2 conference records. Clarion won the seeding tiebreaker thanks to a 4-3 set advantage in the season series. It was the first PSAC-West crown in school history … It is the first PSAC Title of any kind for a Clarion program since the women's swimming and diving team won the 2006 title. The last Clarion team to win a championship playing in a tournament setting like volleyball was the 2001 men's basketball team.
