ERIE, Pa. --- The Golden Eagle volleyball team overcame a rollercoaster third set loss to lock things down in the fourth set as Clarion went on the road for a 3-1 (25-18, 25-22, 32-24, 25-19) win over reigning PSAC champion Gannon at the Hammermill Center on Saturday.
 
The third set was nothing short of a marathon, with the two sides requiring 19 additional points after the Golden Knights first reached set point. Neither Clarion nor Gannon could string together enough points to take the set – or in the Golden Eagles' case, the match – though both had opportunities to do so. At one point the Golden Knights had four opportunities at set point but each time Clarion tied them. Eventually a kill by Julia Piccolino and an error by Marta Roicka put the shoe on the other foot, giving the Golden Eagles their first match point of the day at 28-27.
 
Clarion would have another opportunity at 30-29 after an attack error by Lauren Atwell but Gannon rallied and put the Golden Eagles back on the defensive. Clarion fought off two more set points, including a kill by Charlie Allison to tie the set at 32, but Gannon scored two straight to take the set 34-32.
 
The Golden Knights and their fans enjoyed an emotional lift after the set win, but the Golden Eagles responded with an exceptional effort in the fourth to quiet the crowd and take the win. The points went back and forth early on, until a 4-0 run by the Golden Knights gave them a 12-10 lead. Allison righted the ship with a kill but things really turned two points later on a ball handling error by Roicka. That tied the set at 13 points but more importantly sparked a 9-0 Golden Eagle run. Sophia Lucas served up an ace off Madde blake to put her team ahead and then the Golden Eagles went to work, with Cassidy Snider notching four kills in the next seven points. Piccolino and London Fuller also posted kills in that run, giving Clarion a 21-13 lead. Gannon made it a contest with a 3-0 run but a service error gave Clarion the win.
 
Snider went off for 22 kills for the second straight match but the Piccolino was a major force as well, notching 16 kills and a team-high 20 digs to lead the tenacious Clarion defense. Haley Fledderjohann (14) and Fuller (11) also cracked double-digits as Gannon was limited to a .150 attack percentage. Fuller was also tough at the net, posting a team-high six blocks while dishing out her 49 assists.
 
The Golden Eagles got off to a hot start in the first set, scoring seven of the first 10 points to take a lead that they never relinquished. London Fuller made it 5-1 with a kill from the setter's spot, and Savannah Taosoga contributed a kill from the right side to put her team ahead by a 10-4 score. Fledderjohann helped win the race to 15 with a service ace, beating Emma Hall for the point, and Abigail Selfridge added an ace of her own to force set point at 24-16. The Golden Knights put up three straight points to stay in it but Charlie Allison put an end to the set with a kill at 25-18.
 
Clarion needed a rally to take the second set, though, with Gannon taking a 15-11 advantage after a kill by Journey Blevins. The Golden Eagles erased that deficit and then some with a 6-0 run, starting with kills on back-to-back points by Allison and Snider. A couple Golden Knight errors tied the score and Lucas put Clarion ahead with an ace, forcing a Gannon timeout. Finley Kearney recorded a kill out of that break to put the Golden Eagles ahead 17-15, though Gannon put together a small run to take a 19-18 lead. Snider notched a kill to knot it up and Kearney showed up again two points later, blocking Blevins to make it a 21-19 Clarion advantage. Julia Piccolino put a ball away on set point, making it a 2-0 match lead.
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