CLARION, Pa. – The Golden Eagle volleyball team completed a sweep of a weekend with pair of 3-0 sweeps on Saturday, with Clarion defeating Fayetteville State 3-0 (25-13, 25-21, 25-14) and Palm Beach Atlantic 3-0 (25-15, 25-16, 25-21) to close out the Tony Banner Memorial Tournament.
For their performances over the totality of the weekend,
London Fuller and
Amy Regrut shared Tournament MVP honors, while
Julia Piccolino also earned an all-tournament nod. Fuller ran the Golden Eagle offense to the tune of a .309 attack percentage, with Clarion hitters averaging 14.00 kills per set. Regrut averaged 2.58 kills per set while hitting a sizzling .403 for the weekend, while Piccolino averaged 3.92 kills per set and hit .303.
Clarion 3, Fayetteville State 0
Recap: It was another dominant defensive effort for the Golden Eagles, who held the Broncos to a -.065 attack percentage while going off for a .302 mark of their own. Clarion jumped out to big leads in all three sets and made them stand up en route to their third straight win.
Piccolino notched 16 kills on 24 swings with four errors to post a .500 attack percentage, while
Alyson Peters added five kills and a .571 attack percentage.
Amy Regrut and
Charlie Allison also posted seven kills apiece.
The key sequence in the first set win over the Broncos was a 10-1 run that started just after Fayetteville State pulled to within 10-8. Piccolino recorded kills on two of the next four points, and Peters made it 15-8 with a kill after that. The Clarion advantage reached double-digits at 19-9 on a kill by Peters, and the senior middle increased the lead to 21-10 with a kill three points later. Allison checked into the match and finished off the set, pounding a kill for the set win at 25-13.
Fayetteville State briefly led the second set, 10-9, and were tied with Clarion as late as 11-11, but the Golden Eagles ripped off a 7-2 run to re-take control. Piccolino blasted kills on three straight points to make it 15-11, and
Hailey Barden hit one down line to up the lead to 20-15. The Broncos pulled to within 24-19 before Allison finished off that set as well. The Golden Eagles wasted no time in the third set, scoring six straight points to start, and quickly led 13-4 after Regrut and Allison combined for a block. Piccolino and Allison recorded kills on the final two points to take the match.
Clarion 3, Palm Beach Atlantic 0
Recap: It was a matchup between unbeatens as both the Golden Eagles and the Sailfish entered the last match of the weekend with 3-0 records. Further, Palm Beach Atlantic entered the tournament receiving votes in the AVCA coaches ranking, but it was Clarion who got the better of this meeting between the teams.
Piccolino was once again on fire offensively, hitting a match-high 15 kills on 30 swings and posting a .400 attack percentage. Regrut added eight kills and hit .389. On the other side of the net, Clarion limited the Sailfish's Mary Morgan Formby to just a handful of a kills, part of a defensive effort that saw PBA hit just .067 for the match.
The start of the match was simply stunning for the Golden Eagles, as they quickly ran up a 9-1 advantage that included an ace by Fuller and a block by Regrut and Peters. In fact, the first set never really came into question as Clarion continued to build up their lead, going up 17-8 on a Piccolino ace and eventually taking a 22-13 advantage on one from
Haley Fledderjohann.
Hailey Barden pulled one more ace from the deck in the first set, beating Abbie Zylstra to make it 25-15.
The Sailfish tightened things up in the second set as the teams went back and forth for the first 20 or so points. Clarion finally made some headway with three straight points, breaking a 9-9 tie on a kill by Peters and going up 12-9 on one from Barden. Jayden Otto killed a ball to pull within 16-15 but Clarion responded with another huge run, scoring eight straight points to retake command and force set point. Regrut pulled the trigger at 25-16 to give the Golden Eagles the 2-0 match lead.
The third set was the most competitive of all, especially late, as the Sailfish tried to force a fourth set. Anna Gregorson and Anna Beth Stokes blocked Piccolino to cap a 4-0 run that tied things up, but Peters pulled off a kill and a solo block on consecutive points to make it 24-21. Piccolino aced Jayna Bredenberg on match point to conclude the win.
