ERIE, Pa. – Gannon won its sixth-consecutive match with a 3-1 win (25-13, 23-25, 25-22, 25-21) over Clarion on Saturday afternoon inside the Hammermill Center. Senior Lauren Sampson (Hilliard, Ohio/Hilliard Davidson) helped the Golden Knights close out the victory by recording kills on five of Gannon's final six points in the fourth set.
 
"You only get a chance to coach a kid like Lauren (Sampson) once every few years," said Gannon head coach Matt Darling. "When it's crunch time, she has come up big for us this year and in previous years. Her performance down the stretch today made a huge difference for us."
 
Gannon is now 15-2 overall and 4-0 in PSAC West play following the victory. Clarion fell to 10-6 overall and 2-2 in the PSAC West.
 
Gannon started fast with a 25-13 win in set one this afternoon. In set two, neither team led by more than four points as the set featured six ties and two lead changes. Late in set two, Gannon led 23-22 before Clarion reeled off the final three points of the set to even the match at a set apiece.
 
In set three, Clarion led by scores of 12-7, 13-8 and 17-12 before Gannon closed out the set with 13 of the final 18 points. Clarion also opened an early lead in set four and led 11-4 at one point. However, Gannon scored the next four points out of a timeout to close Clarion's lead to three points at 11-8. Sam Deinek (South Lyon, Mich./South Lyon East), Ashley Beyers (Lanark, Ill./Eastland) and Sampson each recorded kills during that stretch.
 
Gannon would continue to chip away at Clarion's set four lead until the Golden Knights finally tied the set at 18-18 following the service error by Clarion's Aubrey Wrona. The service error started a stretch of six-straight points for Gannon that helped the Golden Knights take control with a 23-18 advantage. The Gannon stretch was anchored by three Sampson kills and a service ace by Madde Blake (Crystal Lake, Ill./Crystal Lake Central).
 
Clarion was able to stop the GU scoring run following a bad set, but it wasn't enough as Sampson smashed the final two kills to give the Golden Knights the 25-21 set win and 3-1 match win.
 
"Today we received a good test from Clarion who came here to compete and win," stated Darling. "It was an excellent opportunity for us to battle with a team that quite frankly was a little better than us offensively today. It was good experience for us."
 
Sampson, who recorded seven kills in the fourth set, finished with a team-high 16 kills, six aces, nine digs and three block assists. She hit .300 on the afternoon. Deinek finished the afternoon with a double-double, totaling 10 kills and 15 digs in the win. Ashley Kerestes (Loves Park, Ill./Rockford Lutheran) also drove home nine kills and had a .474 hitting percentage against the Golden Eagles. Kerestes didn't commit an error during the match and was in on a pair of block assists. Ashley McClung (Charleston, W.Va./George Washington) also contributed to the Gannon offense with eight kills.
 
Beyers finished just shy of a double-double with 42 assists and nine digs from her setter position. Emma Hall (Lowell, Mich./Lowell) recorded a team-high 20 digs.
 
Clarion got 17 kills and nine digs from Julia Piccolino and 12 kills and 11 digs from Cassidy Snider. London Fuller passed out 41 assists and also had 15 digs for the Golden Eagles. Abigail Selfridge had a match-high 26 digs for CU.
 
Clarion held an 8-7 advantage in blocks. Gannon, however, faired significantly better on the serve with an 11-3 advantage in service aces.
 
In all, the match featured 13 ties and five lead changes.
 
Gannon will now prepare for a home showdown against cross-county rival Edinboro on Tuesday evening at the Hammermill Center. First serve is set for 7 p.m. Edinboro comes into the match with an 11-1 record and has won seven-straight matches.