ERIE, Pa. - A gradual improvement. That’s what the Gannon volleyball team has made over the last three seasons. From six wins in 2007 to 13 in 2008, the Lady Knights won 22 times this season, making the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 1995.
In its second campaign in the Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference (PSAC), GU finished fourth in the Western Division and qualified for the conference tournament. The Knights went 22-10 overall and 13-6 in the league. The win total is the most for a Gannon volleyball team since 1994, when the team went 25-7. The 2009 Knights also won 12 home contests, the most in 16 years.
GU started the season by sweeping three matches at the UMass.-Lowell Tournament. The team later went on a seven-match win streak, sweeping action at the PSAC-WVIAC (West Virginia Intercollegiate Athletic Conference) and PSAC East-West Crossover events. Included in that stretch was a five-set victory over Wheeling Jesuit September 12. Gannon closed the regular season with a flourish as well, taking its last three conference matches. A thrilling five-set win over Edinboro on Halloween night at the Hammermill Center started the run. The following weekend the Knights won in five at Slippery Rock before closing the regular season with a 3-2 victory at Clarion. PSAC West champion California (Pa.) defeated GU in the first round of conference tournament play and then Wheeling ended the Knights’ season with a 3-0 win in the opening round of the Atlantic Regional November 19.
Coach Matt Darling was named PSAC Western Division coach of the year in his third season at the helm of the program.
Morgan Reineke (New Knoxville, Ohio/New Knoxville) was named West freshman of the year and all-PSAC West first team.
Maire Prybyl (Mars, Pa./North Catholic),
Kara Cullen (Marstons Mills, Mass./Barnstable), and
Lauren Sazama (St. Louis, Mo./Oakville) were each honored second team all-conference.
Reineke led the team with 386 kills and totaled 50 service aces, second-most on the Knights. She is the first Gannon player to be named first team all-conference since 2003. Prybyl, one of two seniors on this year’s team, compiled 1,117 assists for an average of 10.25 per set, second-best in the conference. Cullen led the PSAC in blocks per set with 1.13, good for 19th in all of Division II. She also hit .294, eighth-best in the league. Sazama recorded 76 aces this season, most in the PSAC and sixth-most nationally. She also tallied 15 double-doubles and 322 kills.
In 2010, Gannon returns its top eight leaders in kills from this season. Libero
Jess Saunders (Hinckley, Ohio/Highland) and
Kendall Fischer (Macedonia, Ohio/Nordonia) will be the seniors on next year’s squad, while Reineke, Sazama, and Cullen will lead the underclassmen. With increases in wins each of his three seasons, Darling and the Knights are in line for another step forward in 2010.