CLARION, Pa. --- The battle between the top two teams in the PSAC West was as advertised, but the Golden Eagle volleyball team came up just short in their clash with Gannon, falling 3-2 (25-23, 22-25, 25-17, 25-27, 8-15) in Tippin Gym on Saturday.
 
The Golden Eagles had opportunities to put away the Golden Knights, notably in that they held late leads in both the second and fourth sets before relinquishing the advantages to Gannon. That gave way to a decisive fifth set, where the Golden Knights held Clarion to a negative attack percentage to secure the win.
 
In their best moments the Golden Eagles looked tough to beat, coming at the Golden Knights in waves on offense and playing persistent defense in the back row. Julia Piccolino and Abigail Selfridge both topped 20 digs, coming up with 22 and 20 respectively, and Haley Fledderjohann notched 18 as part of the Golden Eagles' 88-dig day. Cassidy Snider had a match-high 21 kills while hitting .292, and Savannah Taosoga added 14 kills and a .379 attack percentage.
 
Most every set was a dogfight between the two sides, and the Golden Eagles struck the first blow by holding off a late Gannon comeback attempt in the first set. Clarion led 20-16 before a 4-0 Golden Knight run tied the set up. Piccolino broke the tie with a kill but three points later it was knotted up again at 22-22. Freshman middle Finley Kearney broke that deadlock with a tip kill and Taosoga put a ball away to force set point. Taosoga had the set winner two points later, ripping one to make it 25-23.
 
It looked as though the Golden Eagles might take a 2-0 set lead when they went up 22-17 in the second set, but Gannon scored eight straight points to close the set to even up the match. The Golden Knights built up a 15-13 lead in the third set before the Golden Eagles gave them a taste of their own medicine, scoring nine straight points to open up a 22-15 lead. Snider kicked off the run with a kill and Kearney gave Clarion a 16-15 lead with a kill of her own. The rally included an ace by Snider and was capped with kills by Taosoga on consecutive points to make it 22-15.
 
Taosoga blocked Madde Blake on set point to give the Golden Eagles the 2-1 match lead, but Gannon ultimately forced a fifth set with a comeback in the fourth. Trailing 24-21, the Golden Knights scored six of the next seven points to turn that deficit into a 27-25 set win. That momentum carried into the fifth set, as Gannon scored six of the final seven points of the match for the win.
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