INDIANA, Pa. --- The Golden Eagle volleyball team erased a match deficit of 2-1 and a fifth-set deficit of 14-9 on Friday night, winning an improbable 3-2 (19-25, 29-27, 27-29, 25-13, 16-14) decision at IUP.
 
The match was defined by a number of comebacks for the Golden Eagles, first from a 2-1 match deficit and later from a huge disadvantage in the fifth set. Through it all Clarion continued to battle, taking advantage of the openings provided them by the Crimson Hawks to put themselves back in the match.
 
Cassidy Snider went off for a match-high 25 kills, while Savannah Taosoga posted 16 kills, including a critical point in the fifth set that kicked off Clarion's 7-0 run. Abigail Selfridge posted a match-high 23 digs while Julia Piccolino added 14 to go with her nine kills.
 
The fifth set was just as tight as any of the first four sets, with neither side capable of opening up a huge lead on the other early on. The teams exchanged a number of errors midway through the set, with IUP taking a 7-6 lead on an attack error by Finley Kearney. She atoned on the next point with a kill, and Piccolino forced the court flip with a kill on next point that made it 8-7. Piccolino added another kill on the next point, but IUP responded with seven straight points to take a sizable lead and force match point. Piccolino put the match away, hitting down line and catching the back left corner for a 16-14 win.
 
Taosoga stopped the bleeding with a kill, and that sparked a Golden Eagle rally for the ages. The Crimson Hawks committed errors on three straight points to truly let Clarion back into the set, and the pair of London Fuller and Charlie Allison combined to stuff Stefania Anagnostou to tie the set at 14-all. On the next point Abigail Selfridge dug the ball and passed it to Fuller, with the latter throwing it down with the left hand for the kill to give Clarion a 15-14 lead.
 
The middle two sets of the match were marathon games, with the winning team requiring 29 points to win each. In the second set neither team led by more than three points at any juncture, with the latest such advantage coming when Clarion made it 19-16 on a kill by Taosoga. The Crimson Hawks scored four of the next six points to even the score at 21, but the Golden Eagles were the first to reach set point after an error by Simay Memisoglu. IUP battled back though, and eventually they earned a set point after a block by Delany Concannon and Lauren Valentic. Cassidy Snider fended the result off with a kill, and an error by Valentic put the Golden Eagles back in the driver's seat. This time the due of London Fuller and Kearney finished the job, blocking Concannon for the point at 29-27.
 
The Crimson Hawks turned the tables in the third set, coming back from a 23-21 deficit to take the game and a lead in the match. Nyla Birch had kills on two of three points to force set point, with the latter making it a 26-25 IUP lead. Charlie Allison and Snider fought off set point, with the latter tying it up at 27, but the pair of Demisoglu and Caroline Walsh blocked Snider for the 29-27 set win.
 
The Golden Eagles needed the fourth set to give themselves a chance to win the match, and they got off to an excellent start by opening the game on a 5-0 run. That soon exploded into a 10-3 lead after a kill by Snider, and Taosoga extended the lead into double-digits with a kill at 13-3. Snider helped Clarion win the race to 20 with a kill, and before long the Golden Eagles were working on set point with a double-digit lead. Snider forced that set point with a kill and the Crimson Hawks obliged a few points later, with Hannah Simmons committing an error to tie the match at two sets apiece.
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