ERIE, Pa. --- In a match between two of the top offenses in the Atlantic Region, the Golden Eagle volleyball team outlasted West Virginia State in a trio of close sets, beating the Yellow Jackets 3-0 (25-17, 25-21, 25-20) in the opening round of the NCAA Atlantic Regional. Clarion advances to the regional semifinal for the second straight season, with their next match scheduled for Friday, December 1 at 5 p.m.
 
The Golden Eagles were especially effective late in each set, displaying an ability to pull away from the Yellow Jackets in critical moments. This was nowhere more evident than in the second set, when Clarion rallied from a 20-19 deficit to close the game on a 6-1 run. In the third set the Yellow Jackets pulled to within 21-19 before the Golden Eagles pulled away for good, scoring four of the next six points to clinch the win.
 
Clarion hit .243 for the match and limited the Yellow Jackets to just a .157 attack percentage. The other offensive categories were largely even, but a slew of strong individual efforts pushed the Golden Eagles over the top. Cassidy Snider logged a team-high 15 kills and a .324 attack percentage while Charlie Allison notched 10 kills at a .444 clip. Abigail Selfridge posted a match-high 16 digs.  
 
The Golden Eagles opened up the match on a 8-2 run, with Snider putting away kills on four out of six points to punctuate the rally, and London Fuller dealing up an ace in the middle of that 5-0 run. The Yellow Jackets came out of a timeout with three straight points but Clarion still won the race to 10 points, doubling up WVSU with a 10-5 advantage. West Virginia State scored six of the next eight points to cut the deficit to 12-11, but Julia Piccolino and Snider halted that rally with kills on back-to-back points. Allison made it 15-13 with a kill, and the Golden Eagles eventually took a 20-16 lead when Finley Kearney clipped the back line with a kill. Allison and Fuller forced set point with a block, and a Yellow Jacket error gave the Golden Eagles the set 25-17.
 
The Yellow Jackets countered with a good start in the second set, taking an early 6-4 lead. Back-to-back errors by West Virginia State evened the score, but WVSU followed with four straight points to make it a 10-6 advantage. The lead was cut down to 15-14 after a service ace by Fuller and a block from Kearney and Snider, and Piccolino tied the score at 16 with a tip kill off the hands of Diamond'Nique Young. The score was knotted up at 20 after a kill by Allison, and Snider terminated the next rally with a cross court kill. Piccolino upped the lead to 22-20 with an ace, and the Golden Eagles eventually took the set 25-21 after two straight Yellow Jacket errors.
 
West Virginia State once again won the race to 10 points, taking a slim 11-9 advantage early in the third set. Clarion chipped away, with Snider notching a kill to make it 14-13 and the duo of Kearney and Sadie Leisinger combining to block Alex Darby and tie the score. Snider added a kill and an ace to make it a 16-15 advantage and force a Yellow Jacket timeout, and Allison made it a 20-16 advantage with a tip kill. The junior middle added another kill to make it 22-19 and then bounced a kill to force match point at 24-20. Kearney delivered the finisher one point later, solo blocking Natalie Beer for the win.

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