ERIE, Pa. – The Golden Eagle volleyball team swept the only other undefeated PSAC West program entering the match on Friday evening, defeating Gannon 3-0 (25-22, 25-23, 25-14) at the Highmark Events Center.
The Golden Eagles hit a sterling .343 against Gannon on Friday night, committing just eight errors on 105 attempts. Meanwhile, the Golden Knights hit just .155 for the match, while Clarion out-blocked them 11-1 and out-dug them 56-47.
Cassidy Snider was the lead attacker for the Golden Eagles, hitting 14 kills on 26 attempts with just two errors for a .462 attack percentage on Friday evening. The sophomore outside hitter also contributed eight digs on the evening.
Amy Regrut had 12 kills and a .600 attack percentage, while
Julia Piccolino had seven kills and 11 digs.
Abigail Selfridge tied for the match-high with 14 digs while
Lauren Aichinger added four kills and seven blocks. Setter
London Fuller had 35 assists, 11 digs and five blocks.
Clarion overcame a tight first set, rallying from a 7-7 tie to win the overall set. That came in part because of a 4-0 run in the game, with
Lauren Aichinger contributing a kill and an assisted block that made it 10-7. The lead went to 15-11 on a kill by
Amy Regrut, and Clarion upped the advantage to 20-18 on a kill by
Julia Piccolino. The Golden Knights cut it to 22-21, but Piccolino and Fuller eventually took the set at 25-22 with kills on back-to-back points.
The Golden Knights held much tighter in the second set, scoring three straight points near the end of the game to make it an interesting contest. Snider made it a 20-14 advantage with a kill, but Gannon pulled to within 24-23 thanks to a series of Clarion errors. A service error by Delaney Thomas halted the Gannon run, though, as the Golden Knights fell by a 25-23 score.
The third set went almost entirely the way of the Golden Eagles, who opened up a 12-7 lead thanks to a 6-0 run early in the game. Snider made it 16-9 with kills on back-to-back points, and
Abigail Selfridge aced Madde Blake to make it a 17-9 advantage. The lead reached 20-11 after a kill by
Amy Regrut, and Regrut closed out the match with a kill on set point at 25-14.
Clarion will be back in action tomorrow evening when they face Edinboro on the road at 6 p.m.
