CLARION, Pa. – The Golden Eagle volleyball team, riding high after a 3-0 road win over Edinboro in the opening round of the Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference (PSAC) Tournament, will find themselves in unfamiliar territory on Friday night – both physically and figuratively – when they square off with East Stroudsburg at 7:30 p.m.
 
Let's start with "physically." The conference tournament sets up its first round to match up divisional foes, marking the third meeting of the year between those pairs of teams. By contrast, the semifinal round introduces crossover between the PSAC West and East divisions, and because of the way the schedule is built, it may mark the only time those two teams will face each other all year long.
 
And thus, we meet the East Stroudsburg Warriors, owners of an 18-9 overall record, a 12-2 conference record that earned them the top spot in the PSAC East division, and currently the seventh-ranked team in the NCAA Atlantic Region. Clarion has not played a match against East Stroudsburg since a five-set loss in Sept. 2019 in Clarion. Because of a quirk of the schedule, they have not made a trip out east since 2017, meaning there is not a single player that appeared in that match still on the roster.
 
The Warriors enter this Friday's match riding a 10-match win streak that dates back to Oct. 16. Eight of those 10 wins came as 3-0 sweeps. The most recent, though, did not. Bloomsburg pushed the Warriors to five sets after falling behind 2-0 in their quarterfinal match on Tuesday night. East Stroudsburg regained their footing and defeated the Huskies in the fifth set to not only advance in the tournament, but enjoy the friendly confines of home for the remainder of the weekend.
 
The Warriors boast one of the top players in the conference in setter Ali Finch, the PSAC East Player of the Year. Finch is the rare setter that leads her team in kills in addition to her setting prowess, while posting five triple-doubles on the season. Libero Emily Meredith and middle blocker Kenzie Guimont were also All-PSAC selections, while coach Tricia Melfy took home PSAC East Coach of the Year honors.
 
Though daunting, the Golden Eagles boast no shortage of power – both "fire" and "star" – of their own. Freshman outside hitter Cassidy Snider earned PSAC West Rookie of the Year honors after a year where she led the conference and ranked 10^th in NCAA Division II in kills, with an average of 4.24 kills per set. She was the only player in the PSAC to record more than 200 kills in PSAC play with 243. Second place? Teammate Julia Piccolino, who recorded 198 kills in PSAC action and earned Second Team All-PSAC West status.
 
Clarion will also have their tough matchup at the setter position. London Fuller earned First Team All-PSAC West status after helming the most productive offense in the conference and one of the best in the country. The Golden Eagles lead the PSAC and rank second in the NCAA Atlantic Region with an average of 13.67 kills per set, and also top the conference in attack percentage in conference matches. The junior ranks first in the PSAC, second in the Atlantic Region and 16^th in the nation in assists per set.
 
On the defensive side of things, the Golden Eagle block has been bolstered in recent weeks by the play of Lauren Aichinger and Alyson Peters. Aichinger is averaging 0.97 blocks per set but has totaled 38 blocks in her last seven matches for an average of 1.41 blocks per set. She's also been more productive offensively of late, hitting double-digit kills in two of her last three matches and hitting at a higher clip. Libero Abigail Selfridge has been the beneficiary of the block by picking things up in the dig game, culminating with 23 digs in just three sets against the Fighting Scots on Tuesday.
 
The other sense of unfamiliar territory? In spite of two NCAA Tournament appearances since 2015, this marks the first time the Golden Eagles have moved beyond the quarterfinal round in a PSAC Tournament since that time. Before beating the Fighting Scots on Tuesday, Clarion had not won a match in the PSAC playoffs since bouncing Pitt-Johnstown to earn a berth in the championship match in 2015, where they fell to Shippensburg.
 
Chalk it up as one more piece of history the Golden Eagles will look to upend on Friday evening.