ERIE, Pa. - After capturing the first set, the Gannon women's volleyball team allowed the Clarion Golden Eagles to rally for a 3-1 win at the Hammermill Center on Saturday afternoon in the annual Dig Pink match. The Lady Knights dropped the match with set scores of 25-20, 15-25, 19-25, 23-25. The Lady Knights fall to 11-7 on the season and 6-3 in the Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference (PSAC), while the Golden Eagles improve to 18-1 on the season and 8-1 in conference action.
"We tip our hat to Clarion, who is a really great team. A team that is worthy of its record and who pretty much dominated play throughout the match," said head coach
Matt Darling. "There were times when we played well enough to compete with Clarion but they were too few and far between to mount a serious threat in today's match. At times, we had players execute well but overall we are definitely still searching for some solutions."
Freshman
Jordyn Thiery (Cincinnati, Ohio / McAuley) led the Lady Knights with a career-high 15 kills and 17 digs with a .275 hitting percentage (15-4-40). Freshman
Hannah Kren (Waukesha, Wisc. / Wisconsin Lutheran) collected 11 kills and 2 digs. Junior
Taryn Graham (Huron, Ohio / Huron) led the Lady Knights in digs with 18. Junior
Megan Wendel (Aurora, Ohio / Kenston) recorded 40 assists, six digs, five kills and a team-best .385 hitting percentage (5-0-13).
Gannon opened the match with a 25-20 win over Clarion in the opening set. The Lady Knights hit a .325 with 15 kills to take the opening stanza. With seven tied scores and three lead changes, the Lady Knights took control late in the contest with the score tied at 16-16. Off back-to-back kills by sophomore
Kayla Knickerbocker (Richland, Mich. / Gull Lake) and Thiery, followed by a service ace by sophomore
Morgan Walters (Girard, Ohio / Girard), the Lady Knights extended their lead to 19-16 forcing a Clarion timeout. The Lady Knights sealed the 25-20 win off a service error by Clarion to take a 1-0 lead in the match.
Clarion bounced back in the second set with a strong performance, hitting a match-best .424 (15-1-33). The Golden Eagles jumped on the Lady Knights early in the contest with a 7-1 lead forcing a Gannon timeout. Off consecutive kills, the Golden Eagles worked their lead to double digits, 13-3. The Golden Eagles were able to work their lead to 13 with the score set at 21-8. Despite outscoring the Golden Eagles, 7-4, the Lady Knights were unable to recover from the Golden Eagles' early lead. Clarion tied the match at 1-1 with a 25-15 win in the second set.
Falling behind early once again, Gannon managed to erase a four-point deficit to tie the third set at 7-7. Despite the two squads battling for control of the set, Clarion managed take possession with the score at 17-16. The Golden Eagles ripped off six straight points to take a 22-16 lead, their widest lead of the set. In a race to the finish, Clarion's lead would be hard to overcome for Gannon, as the Golden Eagles won the third set, 25-19, to take a 2-1 advantage in the match.
The fourth set would be a fight until the end including nine tied scores. Junior
Maggie Desrosiers (Uniontown, Ohio / Hoover) opened the set with back-to-back service aces to breathe new life into the Lady Knights. Clarion quickly erased the Lady Knights' early lead to tie the set at 3-3. With the score tied at 12-12, the Lady Knights worked its lead to 15-12 before the Golden Eagles tied the contest once again at 15-15. The Lady Knights possessed the lead for the remainder of the set until the Golden Eagles tied the set at 23-23. A kill followed by a Lady Knight attack-error gave Clarion the third set, 25-23, allowing the visiting Golden Eagles to complete the rally for a 3-1 win.
Gannon falls to 21-30 in the all-time series with Clarion. The loss marked the first time the Lady Knights dropped a decision to the Golden Eagles since Oct. 21, 2011.
Beyond the final outcome of the contest, the Lady Knights and Golden Eagles came together to fight breast cancer in the annual Dig Pink match with proceeds given to local non-profit organization, Linked by Pink. The proceeds raised throughout the match from the sale of t-shirts and raffle tickets will be donated to the organization.
Gannon returns to action on Saturday, Oct. 18 in the PSAC East/West Crossover held at Pitt-Johnstown. The Lady Knights will open play against the host Lady Cats at 11:30 a.m. followed by Shippensburg at 5 p.m.
