JOHNSTOWN, Pa. --- The Golden Eagles volleyball team wrapped the regular season on Saturday afternoon, falling 3-1 (20-25, 18-25, 25-22, 16-25) to Pitt-Johnstown at the Sports Center. Clarion finishes the regular season with a 15-10 overall record, including a 9-5 record in PSAC West action.
 
With the regular season in the rearview mirror, Clarion enters next week's PSAC Tournament as the third seed in the West division. They will travel to IUP for a match on Tuesday, November 19. The Golden Eagles and Crimson Hawks split the regular season series, with Clarion winning 3-1 in Tippin Gymn and IUP winning 3-2 at the Kovalchick Center.
 
The Mountain Cats continued their own push for a postseason appearance on Saturday, trying to sure up enough of their resume to help them qualify for a spot in the NCAA Atlantic Regional in December. They came out firing in the first set, hitting .361 with just one error on their 36 attempts for a 25-20 set win. UPJ scored six of the first seven points of the match and eventually stretched the lead to double-digits, going up 16-6 on a kill by Adi Beaz. The Golden Eagles went on a 6-0 run to claw their way back into the set, with Emily Klopp recording kills on the last two points of the rally to make it 20-17. She added another kill late in the set to make it 22-20, but the Mountain Cats scored three straight points for the win.
 
Neither side was terribly efficient in the second set, with both teams hitting under .100 in the frame. The Mountain Cats built a 17-11 lead but it quickly evaporated on the strength of a 5-1 Clarion run, with Cassidy Snider recording three kills in the run and Kylie Barto dealing up an ace. The decisive run in the set came late, when UPJ strung together five consecutive points to take a 24-17 lead and ultimately took the set. Clarion flipped the script in the third set, using a 5-0 run to take a 22-16 lead, and Finley Kearney finished off the set with a kill at 25-22 to extend the match. The Mountain Cats had a 9-1 run that set them apart in the fourth set, though, and Beaz wrapped things up with a kill at 25-16.
 
Cassidy Snider finished with 22 kills and 19 digs, with the former number putting her just two kills shy of 2,000 kills in her career. Raegan Stader had nine kills and Klopp finished with eight. Four Golden Eagles finished with more than 15 digs; after Snider, the trio of Haley Fledderjohann, Barto and Lauren Fjerstad all notched 15 digs. Read Full Article