Volleyball | 10/6/2014 5:01:00 PM
CLARION, Pa. – The Clarion University women's volleyball team is hosting a key non-conference NCAA Division II Atlantic Region match with No. 5 Wheeling Jesuit at 7 p.m. Tuesday at Tippin Gym.
The Golden Eagles and Cardinals are the only two teams in the Atlantic Region to earn votes in the American Volleyball Coaches' Association (AVCA) NCAA Division II Top 25 Poll this week. Clarion received three votes, the fourth straight week the Golden Eagles have received votes, which would be good enough to rank 38
th.
Both teams enter the match with one-loss.
Clarion is 16-1 with its lone loss coming to California (Pa.) 3-0 Sept. 27, while Wheeling Jesuit is 18-1 with its loss coming to Sept. 6 3-0 to Concordia-St. Paul, which is ranked third in the country. The Cardinals have won 16 straight since that match.
Senior setter
Laura Subject, the reigning PSAC West Athlete of the Year, sets the table for the Golden Eagles. She is averaging 10.91 set assists per set, the second-best mark in the PSAC, while adding 2.69 digs per set, 42 kills and 17 blocks.
Subject is a key reason why Clarion hasn't missed a beat on offense this year despite only senior
Carlie Bieranowski returning as a regular hitter from a year ago.
Bieranowski is second on the team and 16
th in the PSAC in kills per set with 2.72 while adding 2.79 digs per set.
Freshman
Taylor Braunagel leads the Golden Eagles with 2.86 kills per set, the 13
th-best mark in the PSAC. Sophomore right-side hitter
Mackenzie Biggs chips in 2.57 kills per set and a .278 hitting percentage (149 kills, 55 errors, 338 attempts), junior outside hitter
Abbey Cox adds 2.10 kills per set, a PSAC-leading .363 hitting percentage (122-29-256) and 44 blocks with freshman middle hitter
Gabrielle Olson adds 1.98 kills per set, a .313 hitting percentage (115-37-249), which ranks fifth in the PSAC, and a team-best 55 blocks. Her 0.95 blocks per set is good for 11
th in the conference.
On defense, junior Libero
Morgan Seybold leads the PSAC at 6.02 digs per set, while freshman defensive specialist
Catherine Ferragonio adds 2.90 digs per set and sophomore defensive specialist
Mattison Thornton 1.92 digs per set.
Haley Kindall leads Wheeling Jesuit's offense with 3.47 kills per set, one of five Cardinals over two kills per set. Kayce Krucki adds 2.93 kills per set, while Emma Schleucher is at 2.67, Jessica Thobe at2.41 and Maddy Smyth at 2.00. Andrea Thobe runs the offense with 11.67 set assists per set while adding 2.56 digs per set.
Makenzie Ripley leads the defense at 4.73 digs per set followed by Krucki (3.05) and Jessica Thobe (2.56). Kindall is the leading blocker at 0.92 per set followed by Schleucher at 0.59.
This is the sixth straight year the teams have met in the regular season with Wheeling Jesuit winning all six regular-season matches since 2009 including a pair in 2009. The teams have also met twice in the NCAA Division II Atlantic Region playoffs with Clarion picking up a 3-1 win in 2010 and Wheeling taking home a 3-2 victory in 2012.
Clarion returns to Tippin Gym Friday and Saturday when it hosts a PSAC Crossover event. The Golden Eagles face East Stroudsburg at 11:30 a.m. Friday and Kutztown at 7:30 p.m. Friday before taking on West Chester at 10 a.m. Saturday and Cheyney at 6 p.m. Saturday.
