CLARION, Pa. – The Golden Eagle volleyball team rebounded from a five-set loss on Friday with a three-set sweep on Saturday, defeating Kutztown 3-0 (25-18, 25-12, 25-23) at the Student Recreation Center. Clarion (9-5, 1-1 PSAC) will head back on the road next weekend with matches against Lock Haven and Bloomsburg.
The Golden Eagles served the Golden Bears tough on Saturday, ripping off eight aces while allowing only one themselves, and in general kept Kutztown on their heels. The Golden Bears hit just .164 through three sets while Clarion hit .328.
Julia Holden had a match-high 14 kills and committed just one error for a .342 hitting percentage, and the duo of
Aubrey Wrona and
Lydia Leiner backed her up with 10 kills apiece. Wrona finished with a .474 attack percentage and Leiner a .364 hitting percentage, with the two committing just three errors between them.
Defensively, Wrona finished up with a double-double by adding a 17-dig performance, just behind
Chrissy Cotton's team-high 20 digs.
Lauren Aichinger recorded five blocks.
Clarion was never really threatened by the Golden Bears in the first two sets, and in fact Kutztown led only for a single point in the entire as the Golden Eagles played well from front to back. The big period of separation in the first set came when Clarion led 10-8 but scored six of the next eight points, taking a 16-10 lead after back-to-back kills from Leiner. Kutztown pulled to within 22-18 but the Golden Eagles ripped off three straight points for the set win. The Golden Eagles opened the second set on a 10-3 run punctuated by a block from Holden and Aichinger, and the lead reached 15 points on a kill from
Brooke Williams. Williams and Leiner posted the final two kills of the second set to win it 25-12.
Kutztown came alive in the third set and put up a good fight, but the Golden Eagles used a 4-0 run midway through the set to take a 15-11 lead. The Golden Bears continued to rally and tied the score at 23-23, but Holden and Leiner ended the set and the match with back-to-back kills to make it 25-23.
