ERIE, Pa. – The Clarion volleyball team salvaged a weekend split with a 3-0 (25-23, 25-19, 25-19) sweep of Mercyhurst on Saturday afternoon, closing out a five-match road stretch with a conference win over the Lakers.  The Golden Eagles return home this weekend when they face off with Pitt-Johnstown and IUP.
 
Clarion (14-9, 6-5 PSAC) got stronger as the match went on, improving their attack percentage with each set and culminating with a dominant effort in the third.  The Golden Eagles hit .400 as a team in the third set, committing just two errors on 35 swings.  They dominated the net with an 11 - 5 team block advantage as Lauren Aichinger contributed a match-high seven rejections, and Julia Holden another five blocks. 
 
Holden had the match-high with 16 kills, followed by 10 from Holly Pittman and eight from Lydia Leiner.  Alexa Cundy dished out 40 assists for an average of 13.3 per set and Chrissy Cotton had a match-high 24 digs.
 
The Golden Eagles rallied from a small deficit in the first set, coming back from a 13-11 disadvantage with four straight points.  Holden and Aichinger blocked Tess Ganich for the equalizer and then Leiner and Holden contributed kills to make it 15-13.  Clarion held on to the lead for the rest of the set, holding off a rally wity a block by Cundy and Aichinger to force set point.  Holden solo-blocked Ganich on the next point for the set win.
 
Mercyhurst took off on a 6-1 run to start the second set but Clarion recovered by scoring seven of the next eight points, taking the lead at 8-7 on an error by Ganich.  It remained close until a 6-2 run by the Golden Eagles stretched the lead to five points, and Holden helped them win the race to 20 points with a kill.  It never got close than five points the rest of the way as Leiner posted a kill on set point to make it a 2-0 match. 
 
Clarion went on a 6-2 run to start the third set, closing the run on a kill by Holden, and a run of five straight points late in the set put them ahead 21-15.  Pittman and Holden forced match point with a block and Holden delivered the kill shot two points later, giving the Golden Eagles the sweep victory.