ERIE, Pa. --- The Golden Eagle volleyball team earned a trip to their second consecutive Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference (PSAC) championship match with an inspired effort on a neutral court, defeating East division champion Shepherd 3-1 (21-25, 25-21, 25-15, 25-21) at Gannon's Highmark Events Center.
 
With the win, Clarion will face off with top-seeded Gannon in the conference championship match on Sunday in a rematch of last year's championship bout. Last year the Golden Eagles won 3-0 over the Golden Knights at East Stroudsburg's Koehler Fieldhouse.
 
In addition to the win in the match, Alyson Peters was named the PSAC Champion Scholar for this year's volleyball season. The award goes annually to the player with the highest GPA at the conference championship, and also takes into account other academic factors.
 
The Golden Eagles rebounded from a first set loss to the Rams, winning three straight sets in what turned out to be a defensive battle. Other than Clarion's .344 attack percentage in the second set, neither team topped .300 in attack percentage in any other set. The Golden Eagles were out-blocked and out-dug over the course of the match, but they were able to pull together enough offense for the win.
 
Julia Piccolino finished with a match-high 18 kills on 35 attempts with just three errors, giving her a .429 attack percentage. The senior outside hitter also finished with nine digs and four blocks. Cassidy Snider posted 15 kills herself, as well as five digs, two aces and a block. London Fuller finished with a double-double of 38 assists and 12 digs, the latter of which was a team-high.
 
The Rams won the first set 25-21, but the way the Golden Eagles responded early in the set foreshadowed how the rest of the match would go. Shepherd opened up an 18-10 lead in the set but Clarion rallied back with a 6-1 run, pulling to within 20-18 after a kill by Piccolino. The Rams ultimately won the set but that show of resilience played well as Clarion got back into the match.
 
Shepherd opened up a 12-11 lead in the second set after a 5-0 run, but Alyson Peters quashed that with a kill, and Snider aced Claire Ellis to take a 14-12 advantage in the set. Snider made it 20-18 with a kill, and the Golden Eagles went off on a 4-0 run to force set point. Peters bounced a kill to make it 22-19, and Piccolino posted kills on back-to-back points to make it 24-19. The senior outside added one more on set point to make it 25-21 and tie the match. The Golden Eagles dominated the second set, taking a 15-6 lead largely on offense from Snider and Fuller. Shepherd rallied to pull within 15-14 before Clarion scored four straight to take the lead for good, with Sophia Luca serving out five straight points for the 25-15 set win.
 
Clarion got off to a 6-2 start in the third set, with Lucas punctuating the run with an ace, and the duo of Fuller and Peters blocked Joi Fairweather to take a 16-8 advantage. Piccolino made it 22-17 with a kill and then finished it off later in the set, bouncing a feed from Fuller to make it 25-21. Read Full Article