SLIPPERY ROCK, Pa. – The Golden Eagle volleyball team clinched a playoff berth with a resounding road win on Friday evening, defeating Slippery Rock 3-0 (25-7, 25-15, 25-14) at Morrow Field House in a PSAC West clash. Clarion (18-7, 10-3 PSAC West) is now even in the loss column with first-place Gannon with a game in hand on the Golden Knights, and the Golden Eagles are tied with Edinboro's 10-3 mark in divisional play.
 
Clarion made quick work of the Rock on Friday, committing just 12 attack errors in the match and out-hitting Slippery Rock .273 to -.176 in three sets. They held the Rock to just 11 total kills, out-blocking them 13-4 and out-digging them 48-38. Julia Piccolino managed a kill-dig double-double with 10 kills and 12 digs while hitting .304, coming in just two digs behind Abigail Selfridge's match-high 14 saves. Cassidy Snider had a match-high 11 kills and hit .360. Alyson Peters notched six kills, hit .714 and recorded five blocks, while fellow middle Lauren Aichinger had a 5-0-12-.417 night offensively and five blocks of her own.
 
London Fuller also added a double-double, finishing with 27 assists and 10 digs on the night. She was also tough at the service line, dishing out four aces.
 
Things could scarcely have started better for the Golden Eagles, who opened up a 5-0 lead thanks in part to a block from Peters and Aubrey Wrona, and a service ace by Fuller. It was 12-4 after consecutive errors by the Rock, and an 8-0 run off the serve of Piccolino was punctuated with a solo block by Snider to make it 20-5. Peters recorded two kills in a 4-0 set-ending run, and also contributed to the last point when she combined with Snider to block Lauren Crytzer at 25-7.
 
The Rock kept it much closer in the early going in the second, pulling to within 11-8 on a block by Stephanie O'Donnell and Tiara Teague, but they got no closer the rest of the way. Cambron Hampton aced Sydney Ryan wot make it 16-9, and Peters bumped the lead to nine points with a kill at 19-10. The deficit hit double-digits when Selfridge aced Paige Weeder, en route to a 25-15 set win. Slippery Rock was within two points early in the third set, but a 7-1 run by the Golden Eagles quashed any idea of a comeback. Lindsey Mausser made it 20-11 with a kill, and Clarion scored the final three points of the set for the match win.