Box Score CLARION, Pa. – For just the third time in school history, the Clarion University women's volleyball teams has 30 wins in a season after a 3-1 victory over visiting Mercyhurst on Senior Day Saturday at Tippin Gym.
 
The Golden Eagles (30-2 overall, 19-1 PSAC West), who have 30 wins in the regular season for just the second time in school history, won by scores of 25-19, 27-29, 25-11, 25-7.
 
"I am proud of our players," Clarion's seventh-year head coach Jennifer Mills, who has seen her team win seven straight overall and 15 straight conference matches, said. "They have put in the work, and they are playing well. We have players who understand what we are trying to do and who are willing to put the work in to achieve success. They come to practice every day wanting to get better. That is what we ask of them. If they do that, the wins are just a by product."
 
Carlie Bieranowski led the Golden Eagles with 14 kills and 17 digs, while Emily Stewart added 12 kills and seven digs. Hannah Heeter had a solid all-around match as well with eight kills, seven digs and four blocks while hitting .350 (8 kills, 1 error, 20 attempts). Laura Subject ran the offense with 45 set assists and added 10 digs, and Morgan Seybold continued her great play at Libero with 36 digs and earned high praise from Mills.
 
"Morgan Seybold has been great," Mills said. "She keeps giving us opportunities to continue rallies and score points. I can't say enough about how she is playing."
 
Clarion, which finished a stretch of seven matches in 15 days with the win Saturday, looked strong in the first set before a sluggish start in the second led to the 29-27 defeat. But the Golden Eagles rallied to easily take the third and fourth sets.
 
"We were flat for a while," Mills said. "We have some kids who need a break, who need a little bit of rest. Last night (a 3-1 win over Gannon Friday night) was a tough match. To be able to come back and beat a good team like Mercyhurst in four sets after that was nice."
 
In the first set, Clarion was tied at 11 before a 6-0 run led by a pair of Kelly Shannon kills gave the Golden Eagles control with a 17-11 lead, a lead that never dropped below four the remainder of the set.
 
But in the second set, Mercyhurst came out strong taking a 6-1 lead before Clarion battled back scoring nine of the next 12 points behind a pair of kills each by Bieranowski and Corinne Manley to go up 10-9.
 
It was then Mercyhurst's turn to rally with the Lakers (16-14, 10-10) grabbing a 16-14 lead before Clarion went up 19-18. Mercyhurst again grabbed control taking a 23-20 lead that put the Lakers eventually within a point of the set at 24-22. But an attack error and a Bieranowski kill tied the set at 24 before Mercyhurst went ahead 25-24. Clarion scored the next two points on a Bieranowski kill and Seybold ace to go up 26-25 before Mercyhurst rallied to tie the set 26. Another Bieranowski kill made it 27-26 Clarion, but the Lakers rolled off the final three points to take the set and tie the match at one.
 
"We struggled a little bit to kill the ball from the outside, actually from everywhere," Mills said.
 
Killing the ball wasn't a problem in the final two sets, though, as the Golden Eagles used a set-ending 16-4 run to take a 2-1 lead in the match and then raced out to a 14-5 lead in the fourth set on their way to the victory.
 
"In the third and fourth set we looked a like a team that was fed up, a team that didn't want the match to go to five sets," Mills said. "We served more aggressively, and we played great defense."
 
Clarion also got a lift off the bench in the fourth set by 6-foot-1 freshman Mackenzie Biggs, who had all three of her kills late in the set.
 
"We got a huge lift off the bench from Mackenzie," Mill said. "She is going to be a really good player."   
 
Clarion returns to action at 7 p.m. Friday at Edinboro before closing out the regular season at 2 p.m. Saturday at Slippery Rock. The Golden Eagles will host a PSAC Playoff match Nov. 19 at Tippin Gym.
 
NOTES – Prior to the match, Clarion honored its five seniors – Megan Condit, Heeter, Lauren Magalski, Manley and Stewart – by presenting them with framed jerseys. The five seniors are the third-winningest senior class in school history with 105 victories in their career. The school-record for a four-year span is 109 wins by both the 2004 and 2005 teams. The seniors were freshmen when Clarion won 32 matches, the PSAC West, PSAC and NCAA Division II Atlantic Region titles and advanced to the NCAA D-II Elite Eight for the first-time in school history in 2010 … Condit has 76 career digs, Heeter ranks 10^th in school history in career kills (985) and tied for 10^th in career blocks (319), Magalski has 282 career digs, Manley ranks ninth in school history with 351 career blocks while adding 756 career kills and Stewart ranks 19^th in school history with 793 kills … The 30 wins are the third most in school history behind the 32 wins in 2010 and 31 in 2002. The 31 wins in 2002 all came in the regular season and helped Clarion to its first-ever NCAA Division II playoff berth and are the school record for regular-season wins.