Box Score 1 | Box Score 2 INDIANA, Pa. – The Golden Eagle volleyball team played a scrappy pair of matches on Wednesday night, but Clarion was unable to come away with a win on the road in dropping two straight to IUP at the Kovalchick Center. The Crimson Hawks rallied from a 2-1 deficit to defeat Clarion 3-2 (25-191, 23-25, 18-25, 25-11, 15-9) in the first match of the night, and rebounded from a slow start in the second match to claim a 3-1 (18-25, 25-19, 25-18, 25-17) decision against the Golden Eagles.
 
"Our left side hitting was strong tonight, but at times we struggled with serve-and-pass consistency, especially in the second match," head coach Jennifer Herron said. "[IUP's] out-of-system attacking was a big difference maker. We did some stuff to attack well at times, but they defended well and were able to get their hitters involved."
 
The Golden Eagles raced to a 2-1 advantage in the first match of the night, with outside hitters Julia Piccolino and Aubrey Wrona leading the way for the offense. Their production featured quantity as well as quality, especially in terms of efficiency. Piccolino led Clarion with 25 kills on a .291 hitting percentage, while Wrona was not far behind with 18 kills and a .264 hitting percentage. Both finish with double-doubles, with Wrona producing 17 digs and Piccolino 12. Libero Abigail Selfridge had the team-high in the first match with 19 digs, while setter Alexa Cundy had 44 assists and 14 digs.
 
As has been the case for the latter half of the 2021 spring season, the Golden Eagles deployed a different line-up in the second match, in an attempt to provide some players the opportunities to rest and others the chance to impress. Freshman Sadie Leisinger recorded a team-high nine kills while junior middle Lauren Aichinger had eight kills and five total blocks for 13.0 points on the night.
 
"I was very happy with the way Lauren played tonight, as well as for the last few matches in general," Herron said. "She was a big bright spot for us in the second match."
 
The Golden Eagles will head into their final four matches of the spring this weekend, starting with a doubleheader against Slippery Rock on Friday and concluding with a twinbill against Daemen on Saturday. For Herron, the goal will be to see her team continue to develop the mental toughness to push through adversity toward victory.
 
"It's been a really long season already, and our athletes are learning how to compete under duress and fatigue," Herron said. "This is about getting them to understand how to get their body to do the things they want them to when they're dealing with physical fatigue. For our younger athletes, that also means getting them to take the information they're seeing and translating it to the court while dealing with those different levels of adversity."