CLARION, Pa. --- The Golden Eagle volleyball team kicked off the 2023 season with a sweep on their home floor, with Clarion defeating Daemen 3-0 (25-14, 25-23, 25-18) in the opening match of the Tony Banner Memorial Tournament in Tippin Gymnasium.
 
The offense came out hot in the first set but slowed a bit in the final two frames, as the Golden Eagles worked to hold off a push from the Wildcats that could have extended the match. The best such challenge came in the second set, when Daemen at one point led 14-11 and later 21-20. Julia Piccolino tied it and took the advantage with kills on back-to-back points to make it 22-21 in favor of the Golden Eagles.
 
Things were knotted up at 23 in the second set, until a fortuitous net error by Malpica Nahirka gave Clarion set point. A Daemen error on the next point clinched the second set for the Golden Eagles, giving them a 2-0 lead in the team match.
 
Conversely, the first set was a runaway victory for the Golden Eagles, with the home team fired up to play in front of their fans for the first time in 2023. Things were close early on, but an 8-0 run by Clarion put them in the driver's seat the rest of the set. Freshman Finley Kearney sparked the run with a kill, and London Fuller slammed an over-pass for a kill to extend it to 10-6. Piccolino notched aces on three of the next four points to bump the lead to 13-6 and the lead eventually reached nine points after a Daemen error. Piccolino forced set point with a kill that made it 24-12, setting up a win for the Golden Eagles three points later on a Daemen service error.
 
The Wildcats started the third set on a 5-2 run but Clarion quickly erased it, scoring five of the next six points and taking a 7-6 advantage on a block by Fuller and Charlie Allison. Allison made it 10-8 with a kill and the Golden Eagles made it 16-12 with back-to-back kills. Errors on consecutive points late in the set gave Clarion a 24-17 advantage and Cassidy Snider finished it off, going down line from the left side on match point.
 
Snider finished with a match-high 10 kills on 28 attempts, committing just one error for a .321 attack percentage. Fuller dished out 38 assists and dug 12 balls for her first double-double of the season, while Julia Piccolino contributed nine kills, eight digs and three service aces. Kearney and Taosoga, in their first tastes of college action, notched nine and seven kills respectively.
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