Erie, Pa. – Gannon Volleyball closed out the 2017 regular season with a victory against the Edinboro Fighting Scots on Senior Day, 17-25, 30-28, 20-25, 25-23, 15-13. With the victory, the Lady Knights clinched the No. 2-seed in the Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference (PSAC) tournament and will host Clarion on Tuesday, Nov. 14, in the quarterfinal round.
Video highlights,
senior day ceremony and a
webcast replay are available for the event.
Indiana (Pa.) received the top-seed in PSAC tournament and will host the eighth-seeded Edinboro on Tuesday. The full PSAC tournament release can be found
here.
The Lady Knights honored their seven seniors,
Kelsey Ansec (Solon, Ohio/Solon),
Brianna Brennan (Woodhaven, Mich./Woodhaven),
Sara Crandall (Cattaraugus, N.Y./Cattaraugus-Little Valley),
Anne-Mari Kaur (Tallinn, Estonia/Tallinn Lillekula Upper Secondary School),
Rebekah Smith (Churchville, N.Y./Churchville-Chili),
Jordan Talevski (Willoughby, Ohio/Willoughby South) and
Maggie Wilhelm (Euclid, Ohio/Lake Catholic), who played in their final regular-season matches of their career on Saturday.
Ally Smith (Penfield, N.Y./Webster Schroeder) produced her 10
th double-double of the season, issuing a team-high 18 kills and 17 digs for the Lady Knights.
Ashley Beyers (Lanark, Ill./Eastland) compiled a season-high 54 assists. Beyers' 54 assists topped her previous season-high of 45 assists against Slippery Rock on Friday (Nov. 10) night.
Kelsey Ansec (Solon, Ohio/Solon) and
Rebekah Smith (Churchville, N.Y./Churchville-Chili) each delivered 16 kills on senior day. Two of Smith's kills came at key points late in the fifth set.
The Lady Knights split the first four sets with Edinboro before the deciding fifth set. A
Rebekah Smith (Churchville, N.Y./Churchville-Chili) kill had Gannon up 13-10 late in the set before back-to-back Fighting Scot points had Edinboro down just one, 13-12.
Ally Smith (Penfield, N.Y./Webster Schroeder) lined an attack between the Edinboro defense to put the Lady Knights back up 14-12. Challen Litwiler kept the set alive with a kill for EU before Beyers and
Ashley Kerestes (Loves Park, Ill./Rockford Lutheran) delivered a big block to seal the victory for Gannon.
The Lady Knights closed out the regular season with a 26-5 record, 15-3 in the PSAC. Edinboro finished the regular season with a 21-9 record, 10-8 in the conference.
No. 2-seeded Gannon plays host to the No. 7-seed Clarion on Tuesday, Nov. 10, at the Hammermill Center. The PSAC quarterfinal contest is scheduled for 7 p.m. Gannon won the PSAC Championship in 2016 after defeating Pitt-Johnstown in the championship match.
