CLARION, Pa. --- The Golden Eagles volleyball team traded blows with perennial PSAC West rival Gannon on Friday night, but the Golden Knights got the better of Clarion with a 3-2 (27-29, 25-20, 30-28, 15-25, 12-15) decision in Tippin Gym. Gannon won the final two sets of the fiercely competitive match.
 
It should be no surprise that the Golden Eagles and Golden Knights went to five sets on Friday, as four of the previous six meetings also went the distance. Both teams put on defensive displays, with Clarion out-blocking Gannon 15-10 and the Golden Knights out-digging the Golden Eagles by an 86-80 deficit.
 
It came down to a decisive fifth set, with the teams going almost point-for-point. In fact, neither team scored consecutive points until midway through the set, when Clarion strung together three straight to take an 8-6 lead. Emily Klopp and Olivia Ishmael blocked Journey Blevins to put the Golden Eagles ahead, and an error by Blevins on the next point flipped the court. Gannon responded with three straight points of their own, but the duo of Klop and Finley Kearney made it 10-9 with a block.
 
The key point of the fifth set came after the Golden Knights went ahead 12-11 on a kill by Ali Sorenson. Hailey Koch and Lauren Atwell blocked Cassidy Snider on the ensuing point to make it 13-11, and the Golden Knights put together two of the next three points for the 15-12 win.
 
The entire match hinged on such turns of fortune. Clarion held a significant lead in the first set, 21-14, and even after a solid Gannon run the Golden Eagles had the opportunity to put away the set at 24-20. The Golden Knights scored four straight points to tie it up and the teams went back to trading volleys, with Gannon eventually scoring three straight points to make it 29-27. The Golden Eagles evened up the match after a big push in the second set, going up 19-16 after Klopp and Snider recorded kills. A 4-0 run just after that put Clarion back at set point, with back-to-back blocks driving the rally. Gabrielle Grdina finished off the set when she rolled a shot over the block and hit the back line for a kill at 25-20.
 
The Golden Eagles fought off set point in the third set, taking a 2-1 lead with a late comeback effort. After an error by Haley Fledderjohann gave the Gannon a 28-27 lead, Lauren Fjerstad fended off the end with a kill through the block. An error by the Golden Knights put the Golden Eagles back at set point and Grdina delivered again, squeezing a kill between the block and the net for a 30-28 decision. Gannon blitzed the Golden Eagles in the fourth set, winning 25-15 to force the final set.
 
Snider finished with a team-high 17 kills, but the offense was well-spread among her teammates. Klopp recorded a season-high 11 kills while Bickett and Kearney both posted eight kills. Kearney was tough at the net defensively, finishing with 11 total blocks. Haley Fledderjohann and Marisa Markou each cracked 20 digs total, with Fledderjohann totaling 27 digs.
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