CLARION, Pa. – The Clarion volleyball team showed resilience in the face of a tough opponent on Saturday, rallying to win the fifth set in a 3-2 (19-25, 26-24, 25-18, 16-25, 15-12) win over PSAC Southwest opponent Seton Hill. The Golden Eagles (16-8, 7-4 PSAC) remain home for another weekend when they host East Stroudsburg and Kutztown next weekend.
Olivia Olson had a career-high 20 kills to lead all players in the match, adding a .350 hitting percentage to pace the Golden Eagles and help lead them to the victory.
Julia Holden added 19 kills while
Aubrey Wrona had 13, including the match winner to finish off the Griffins.
Chrissy Cotton had a match-high 26 digs, followed by
Marissa Robertson's 19 digs.
Leah Vensel posted a double-double of 55 assists and 10 digs.
The Griffins were rolling after taking the fourth set in convincing fashion, but the Golden Eagles rallied and pulled out the set win. Seton Hill took a 4-2 lead but Olson and Wrona blocked Rachel Satira to stop the bleeding, and a ball handling error by the Griffins tied the score. Again Seton Hill took the lead, going up 7-4, but
Lauryn Driscoll ripped back-to-back kills to put the Golden Eagles within one point. Wrona added another to tie it at 7, and an attack error put Clarion ahead.
Viktoria Farian tied the score at 12-12 with a kill, but Clarion finished things off with three straight points. After a service error opened the door, Robertson and Wrona bashed kills to take the set 15-12 and the match 3-2.
Seton Hill started the match with a first set win, but Clarion gutted out a close second set to tie the overall match. The Golden Eagles actually held a 22-16 lead at one point in the second set, but the Griffins went on a 4-0 run to cut that lead to just two points. Holden made it set point with a kill, setting the score at 24-21, but Seton Hill scored three straight to tie it up. Farian committed an attack error to give Clarion another crack at set point, and another error made it 26-24 for the Golden Eagles.
In the third set, Clarion was much more in control, taking a 22-14 lead and cruising through the remainder for the set win. Holden launched a kill to make it 23-15, and Cotton served up an ace on set point to put her team ahead 2-1 in the match. The Griffins countered with a similar effort in the fourth set, hitting .370 compared to Clarion's .114 to tie the team match.
