CLARION, Pa. – The Clarion University women's volleyball team completed a successful Breast Cancer Awareness Weekend by knocking off visiting Mercyhurst 3-0 (27-25, 25-15, 25-22) Saturday afternoon at Tippin Gym.

"Honestly, for us, we were focused on one match at a time this weekend," Golden Eagle head coach Jennifer Mills, whose team knocked off Gannon 3-2 Friday in a first-place showdown, said. "I couldn't  be more proud of the way the team showed up today after a really, really emotional win last night. It's really hard to come off that and put forth your best effort. I think they fought hard and played hard. Mercyhurst is a great team. That team beat Gannon in five (Tuesday)."

Offensively, it was a balanced effort for Clarion (16-1 overall, 8-1 PSAC West) with freshman Taylor Braunagel leading the way with nine kills. Carlie Bieranowski and Mackenzie Biggs each added eight kills and Gabrielle Olson had seven kills.

"One of the things we talk about a lot is our ball control," Mills said. "When we have five hitters swinging, it's because we are in system. When we have to go solely to one hitter, it's because we are out of system. We become a hard team to defend, when all five of our kids hit."

A lot of the credit for the Golden Eagles staying in system went to the defense that recorded 52 digs led by 14 from Morgan Seybold, 12 from Laura Subject, eight from Bieranowski and six from Catherine Ferragonio.

"It's tough," Mills said of defending the Mercyhurst attack. "They have all hitters working on a pretty fast pace on the same tempo. To be able to defend that as well as we did, get good touches on the block, I think our defense did a wonderful job."

Subject also played her usual steady game at setter finishing with 30 set assists to go with four kills, and Olson and Biggs were big at the net finishing with six and five blocks respectively.

Camille Alvarez led Mercyhurst (11-5, 6-3) with 11 kills and 14 digs, while Lauren Kenny had eight kills. Samantha Giardina paced the Lakers defense with 20 digs, while Kelly Vitt had 36 set assists and Haley Adams four blocks.

While Clarion dispatched Mercyhurst in three straight sets, the match wasn't an easy one for the Golden Eagles, especially in the first set.

Thanks to an 8-3 run that featured two kills apiece from Sarah Wegrzyn, Rachel Crittle and Kenny, the Lakers took a commanding 23-18 lead in the set.

But Clarion, behind kills from Olson and Biggs and a strong defense that help account for four Mercyhurst attack errors down the stretch including a pair of block assists from Olson and Biggs, rallied to take the set 27-25.

"We got into a bit of a rut, but we were willing to fight for every point," Mills said. "Twenty-three to 18 didn't stress them out, which was good. A lot of teams, in that situation, are looking forward to next game. But we stuck with it point-by-point. I'm really proud of them for that. "

The Golden Eagles used the momentum gained in the first-set comeback to easily win the second set 25-15 behind four kills from Bieranowski and three each from Subject and Biggs.

The third set was then a bit more of a challenge, as Mercyhurst took an early 10-6 lead before a 9-4 run behind three Braunagel kills put Clarion ahead for good 15-13. The lead grew to as many as four, 24-20, before a pair of Mercyhurst points kept things interesting prior to an Olson kill that clinched the set and the match. ,

Clarion returns to action at 7 p.m. Tuesday when it hosts Wheeling Jesuit in a key NCAA Division II Atlantic Region match. The Cardinals were 17-1 overall and ranked sixth in the nation going into a 5 p.m. match with Alderson Broaddus Saturday in Wheeling, W. Va.