CLARION, Pa. - Facing a 1-0 deficit after the opening set, the No. 4 seed Gannon women's volleyball team captured three straight over the No. 1 seed Clarion Golden Eagles in a Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference (PSAC) West Division quarterfinal match on Tuesday evening at Tippin Gymnasium. The reigning PSAC champion Lady Knights captured the victory with set scores of 18-25, 25-21, 25-22 and 25-20. The Lady Knights move onto the PSAC Semifinals with a 20-12 overall mark, while Clarion's run in the conference tournament comes to an end with an overall record of 31-4.
"Tonight was playoff volleyball at its best with a great match between two solid teams in front of a great crowd. Clarion provided a great atmosphere for the match tonight and they were treated to a real battle," said head coach
Matt Darling. "The match was a good one for us from start to finish. Even though we lost the first set, we were able to establish a few things we worked on in practice like blocking and attacking against some of their weaker blockers and those things ended up scoring us points in the last three sets."
With the upset over Clarion, the Lady Knights will travel to Shippensburg on Friday, Nov. 22, to take on PSAC East second-seed Pitt-Johnstown in the PSAC Semifinals with the first serve set for 5 p.m. Pitt-Johnstown captured its first postseason-victory in its first home postseason match as a PSAC member with a 3-0 sweep of Lock Haven on Tuesday evening.
Freshman
Hannah Kren (Waukesha, Wisc. / Wisconsin Lutheran) earned her 17th double-double of the season off 22 kills and 12 digs. Freshman
Jordyn Thiery (Cincinnati, Ohio / McAuley) finished with 16 kills and 14 digs, capturing her eighth double-double. Junior
Megan Wendel (Aurora, Ohio / Kenston) guided the Lady Knights' offense with 47 assists, while adding 10 digs. Junior
Taryn Graham (Huron, Ohio / Huron) led the Lady Knights' defensive efforts with 31 digs. At the net, sophomore
Kayla Knickerbocker (Richland, Mich. / Gull Lake) collected five blocks, while junior
Emily Carver (Stow, Ohio / Theodore Roosevelt) finished with four blocks.
"We got terrific performances from everybody tonight in what was probably our best team-win. Especially important was the blocking of Kayla and Emily when we made a huge comeback because of blocking. At the same time, Jordyn and Hannah stepped up big time on the left side, while Taryn played great defense throughout the match. It was a brilliant team win and we are thrilled to move onto the semifinals on Friday night."
The Lady Knights recorded a .143 hitting percentage with the Golden Eagles' recording a season-low .104. The Lady Knights controlled the net, recording 13 blocks to the Golden Eagles' 7.
After falling in the opening set 25-18, the Lady Knights were unable to overcome Clarion's offense to open the second set. Trailing the Golden Eagles by six points, 17-11, the Lady Knights went on a 6-0 run to tie the set at 17-17 off two Kren kills and three Clarion errors. With the score tied at 19, the Lady Knights took control of the set off four straight points to take a 23-19 lead. The Lady Knights captured their first set of the match off a Clarion service error for a 25-21 win.
Trailing the Golden Eagles early on in the third set, the Lady Knights scored three unanswered points to take their first lead, 8-7. The Golden Eagles and Lady Knights fought back and forth until the score became tied at 15. Clarion was able to take an 18-15 lead before Gannon went on a 5-2 run to tie the set at 20-20, forcing a Golden Eagles' timeout. The Lady Knights tallied of five of the final seven points to take a 25-22 win and a 2-1 lead in the match.
The Lady Knights captured their rally from a 1-0 deficit, by taking control of the fourth set early on. Trailing 8-7, the Lady Knights took a 12-8 lead off three straight Clarion errors sandwiched by a kill and service ace by Kren. The Lady Knights never relinquished its lead for the remainder of the fourth set. The Lady Knights finished the rally with a 25-20 win off a Clarion error, taking the match 3-1 in the upset.
Gannon will now travel to Shippensburg for a PSAC semifinal match against the East Division second-seed Pitt-Johnstown at 5 p.m. on Friday, Nov. 22.
