CLARION, Pa. – The Golden Eagle volleyball opened up their 2022 season with a pair of three-set sweeps on Friday, shutting out Shippensburg and Northwood on the first day of the Tony Banner Memorial Tournament. Clarion (2-0) pair a high-octane offense with persistent defense to earn the twinbill sweep.
 
Clarion hit a combined .317 over the course of their two matches, while holding the Raiders and Timberwolves to a combined .045 hitting percentage throughout the day. The offense averaged 18.00 kills per set, and conversely kept their opponents to just 7.50 kills per set.
 
Cassidy Snider totaled 24 kills on the day while hitting .370. The sophomore also added 10 digs in the match against Northwood to post her first double-double of the season. Abigail Selfridge recorded 25 digs in six sets, an average of 4.17 digs per set.
 
Clarion 3, Shippensburg 0 (25-18, 25-15, 25-17)
Recap: The Golden Eagles authored a dominant performance against their conference rival in the first match of the day, out-hitting the Raiders .337 to .025 in their early afternoon tilt. Snider (12 kills) and Amy Regrut (10 kills) were the top offensive options for the Golden Eagles, while Lauren Aichinger notched seven kills to add to the party. Selfridge finished with 16 digs in just three sets.
 
That trio was highly efficient, as well. Regrut hit .529 in the first match, committing just one error on 17 attempts, while Snider hit .429 with a line of 12-3-21. Aichinger committed two errors on 13 swings for a .385 attack percentage.
 
The first set turned early on, after Kat Negron recorded an ace to pull the Raiders to within 12-11. Clarion scored six of the next points and four straight, including kills from Regrut, Julia Piccolino and Alyson Peters on consecutive points to make it 15-11. Aichinger helped Clarion win the race to 20 points with a kill that made it 20-16, and the duo of Piccolino and Peters blocked Oyinda Agbale on set point to make it 25-18. The second set was a runaway for Clarion, as Shippensburg did not score on consecutive points until they made it 15-7 midway through the game. Haley Fledderjohann aced Rachel Verhoef to double up the Raiders at 22-11, and freshman Julia Shaw emerged from the bench to issue the set-winning kill at 25-15.
 
In the third set, Clarion rebounded from a relatively slow start to take a 9-5 lead on an ace by Hailey Barden. Snider issues back-to-back aces to up the lead to 16-10, and Piccolino added another that gave the Golden Eagles a 21-13 advantage. Setter London Fuller delivered the coup de grace on match point, tipping a kill over the net at 25-17.
 
Clarion 3, Northwood 0 (25-16, 25-11, 25-19)
Recap: As in the first match of the day, Clarion drastically out-hit their opponent in this contest, holding Northwood to just a .065 hitting percentage while recording a .294 mark themselves. Snider posted a double-double of 12 kills and 10 digs and hit .320, committing just four errors on her 25 attempts.
 
Despite the look of the final score, the first set was nip-and-tuck until well into the game. The Golden Eagles turned a 9-9 tie into a 13-9 lead thanks to four straight points, including back-to-back aces by Fuller. Piccolino bounced a kill to push the lead to 15-10, and the Golden Eagles took the race to 20 after Caitlin Warnshuis committed an attack error that made it 20-13. Selfridge was the one to finish things off in the first set, acing Kiana Martens to set the score at 25-16. The second set was abjectly in favor of Clarion, with the Golden Eagles scoring seven straight at one point and opening up a 13-3 lead. That advantage stretched to 20-7 after a kill by Snider, and Northwood errors on three of the final four points put Clarion ahead 2-0 in the match.
 
It seemed the third set might go the same way as the Golden Eagles raced to a 15-5 lead, but the Timberwolves slowly but surely whittled away that deficit. The score got as close as three points late, after a 3-0 run by Northwood cut it to 22-19. Snider broke the funk with a kill, and Fuller served up an ace of Sophia Oakes to force match point. Snider then delivered one final kill, locking up the team win.