CLARION, Pa. --- The Golden Eagles volleyball team capped their home schedule on Saturday with a four-set victory over Slippery Rock, beating The Rock 3-1 (25-19, 25-19, 20-25, 25-23) on Senior Day in Tippin Gym. Clarion held off a spirited effort by Slippery Rock in the fourth set to clinch the win.
 
The first two sets of the afternoon went very clearly the Golden Eagles' way, but The Rock battled back and kept things interesting with a third set win and a competitive effort in the fourth. Clarion build a 15-8 lead in that final set and appeared to be cruising until a 7-0 run by The Rock evened things up and put the Golden Eagles on their heels. The Golden Eagles broke a 16-16 tie with three straight points, including a kill by Cassidy Snider to kick things off, and an attack error by Erica Selfridge gave Clarion a 20-18 edge.
 
It was not to last. Aslyn Pry kicked off a 3-0 run that was punctuated by an ace by Selfridge, giving Slippery Rock a 21-20 lead. The Rock built a 22-21 lead until the Golden Eagles buckled down coming out of a timeout, scoring three straight points to force match point. Finley Kearney scored out of the timeout to tie the score and Snider added a kill to make it 23-22. Errors on two of the final three points by the Rock gave Clarion the 25-23 win.
 
Snider finished with a match-high 17 kills, and also logged 17 digs for a double-double. Emily Klopp also cracked double-digits in kills, posting 11 for the match, while setter Marisa Markou recorded a double-double of 43 assists and 14 digs.
 
Clarion got off to a quick start in the first set, going ahead 5-0 with a run that included two kills and a block by Snider. The lead increased to seven points after a 4-0 run, with Haley Fledderjohann serving up an ace and Taylor Haupt recording a kill to make it 12-5. Snider helped her team win the race to 20 with an ace off Kara Pasquale, making it 20-11, and Snider posted the set point kill at 25-19.
 
The second set started with another big run, with the Golden Eagles scoring six straight points at one juncture to take a 9-2 lead in the set. Klopp made it 13-6 with a kill and Snider added another to up the lead to 15-7, and Klopp gave her side a 20-11 lead with a kill. The Rock again responded with a late run, scoring six of the next eight points to cut it to 24-19, but Savannah Taosoga closed out the set with a kill at 25-19. The Rock responded with a third set win, scoring eight of the last nine points to erase a deficit to win 25-20.
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