WEST LIBERTY, Pa. --- The Golden Eagles volleyball team kicked off a consequential weekend of regional action on Friday with a pair of wins, defeating West Virginia State 3-2 and West Liberty 3-1 at the Atlantic Region Crossover hosted by the Hilltoppers.
 
Clarion 3, West Virginia State 2 (27-25, 28-30, 24-26, 25-21, 15-12)
 
RECAP: The first match of the day featured wild momentum swings, high-scoring sets and plenty of fireworks as the Golden Eagles and the Yellow Jackets delivered a rematch of the 2023 Atlantic Region quarterfinal. Of the five sets played, three went beyond the minimum points threshold of 25, and the teams traded huge swings until the Golden Eagles came out on top in the fifth set.
 
Clarion rallied from being down 2-1, with the Yellow Jackets winning tight second and third sets to put the Golden Eagles on the back foot. Needing a fourth set win to extend the match, the Golden Eagles went to work, edging out West Virginia State by a 25-21 score to force a decisive fifth set.­ The Golden Eagles went on a 6-0 run midway through the set to build up a 17-13 lead, with Cassidy Snider recording kills on four out of five points and Kylie Barto adding an ace to punctuate it. The Yellow Jackets got as close as 21-20, but Savannah Taosoga put some distance between the teams with a kill on the next point. Snider forced set point with a kill, and the Yellow Jackets committed an error on the next point to send it to five sets.
 
The Yellow Jackets opened up the fifth set on a 4-2 run, and flipped the court at 8-5 on a kill by Valencia Wilder. The Golden Eagles rallied to tie the set at 8-8, starting with a kill by Taosoga and concluding with a solo block by Gabrielle Grdina. Taosoga put the Golden Eagles up 10-9 with a solo block on Kiersten Eggleton and Marisa Markou notched an ace to make it 11-9. The Yellow Jackets pulled to within 12-11 but Clarion finished things off, with Finley Kearney forcing set point with an ace and Emily Klopp closing the set with a kill.
 
Snider went off for 27 kills, the eighth-most for a five-set match in school history and the second-best single-match total of her career. Savannah Taosoga recorded 10 kills while Grdina chipped in seven kills. Haley Flederjohann contributed a match-high 25 digs and also had a key ace in the fourth set, while Kearney added three aces and provided crucial tough serves in the fifth set.
 
Clarion 3, West Liberty 1 (21-25, 25-17, 25-23, 25-21)
 
RECAP: In the late match, the Golden Eagles overcame a first set loss to the Hilltoppers to rattle off three straight set wins, out-hitting West Liberty .244 to .092 in the match. Clarion racked up 11.0 total team blocks, led by five total blocks from Olivia Ishmael.
 
Snider added another 15 kills in the win, pushing her into second place on the career kills list at Clarion. With 1,596 career kills, she moved past Taylor Braunagel (1,586) on the all-time list.
 
The Hilltoppers took the first set thanks in large part to a 9-1 run that gave them a 21-16 advantage, but it was the Golden Eagles evening up the match in the second set with a run of their own. Taking advantage of a couple of errors by the Hilltoppers, Kearney bounced a kill to put her team ahead 22-16, and Ishmael finished off the set with a kill at 25-17. The momentum of the match hinged on the end of the third set, with both teams locked in a fierce struggle to take a 2-1 lead. Clarion scored three straight points to take a 20-19 lead, going up on a solo block by Ishmael. Snider broke another tie with a kill to make it 21-20, and Ishmael added another block to increase the lead to two points. Grdina forced set point with a kill and Kearney clinched the key set win, recording a kill to make it 25-23.
 
Midway through the fourth set it seemed as if the Hilltoppers might force a fifth set of their own, going ahead 15-13 on a Clarion error. The Golden Eagles took the lead for good a few points later, embarking on a 5-0 run that closed on an ace by Marisa Markou. Kearney added two more kills down the stretch, and back-to-back Hilltopper errors gave the Golden Eagles the match.
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