GANNON GOLDEN KNIGHTS (21-4, 8-2 PSAC West) at CLARION GOLDEN EAGLES (15-7, 7-3 PSAC West)
Date/Time: Friday, October 29, 2021 l 6:00 p.m.
Location: Clarion, Pa. | Tippin Gym
Live Coverage: LIVE VIDEO | LIVE STATS
 
GANNON GOLDEN KNIGHTS (21-4, 8-2 PSAC West) at PITT-JOHNSTOWN MOUNTAIN CATS (12-7, 5-5 PSAC West)
Date/Time: Saturday, October 30, 2021 l 1:00 p.m.
Location: Johnstown, Pa. | Sports Center
Live Coverage: LIVE VIDEO | LIVE STATS
 
ERIE, Pa. – The Gannon volleyball team will be looking to extend its six-match winning streak with a pair of PSAC West road matchups this weekend as the team enters the final three weeks of the 2021 regular season. This weekend's action will get underway with a 6 p.m. matchup at Clarion on Friday evening at Tippin Gym. Gannon won the first matchup of the season back on Oct. 2 with a 3-1 win over the Golden Eagles at the Hammermill Center. Gannon's Lauren Sampson (Hilliard, Ohio/Hilliard Davidson) recorded five of the teams final six points in the match and finished the evening with a team-high 16 kills.
 
This weekend's action will continue on Saturday at 1 p.m. at Pitt-Johnstown. The Golden Knights also hold a 3-0 sweep over UPJ this season back on Friday, Oct. 1. The early season win over UPJ snapped the Mountain Cats nine-match winning streak as Gannon won by set scores of 25-14, 25-19 and 25-16. Sampson (13), Sam Deinek (South Lyon, Mich./South Lyon East) (11) and Ashley McClung (Charleston, W.Va./George Washington) (10) each reached double-figure kills for the Knights during the win.
 
THE GANNON-CLARION SERIES
Clarion leads all-time series 36-32.
 
THE GANNON-UPJ SERIES
Gannon leads all-time series 14-4.
 
BEYERS, GREENFIELD SWEEP PSAC WEST VOLLEYBALL HONORS LAST WEEK
After a 3-0 week that stretched Gannon's record to 21-4 on the season, senior setter Ashley Beyers (Lanark, Ill./Eastland) and redshirt junior middle blocker Maggie Greenfield (Woodstock, Ontario/Woodstock Collegiate Institute) were both honored by the Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference (PSAC) as the Volleyball Offensive and Defensive Athletes of the Week this past Tuesday.
 
Beyers, from Lanark, Ill., was honored as the offensive athlete of the week after guiding the GU offense from her setter position last week. She began the week by recording 35 assists, 16 digs and two aces in Gannon's nonconference win over Daemen College on Tuesday night at the Hammermill Center. Her effort against Daemen allowed the senior to surpass the 4,000-career assist mark. She is just the second player in program history to surpass the milestone. She followed up that performance by recording 33 assists and eight digs in a home win over Indiana (PA) on Friday. She wrapped up the week with 30 assists, 10 digs and three aces in a road sweep over Seton Hill on Saturday afternoon.
 
Greenfield, from Woodstock, Ontario, was honored as the PSAC Defensive Athlete of the Week after recording a team-high 12 blocks to go along with 18 kills and three digs last week from her middle blocker position. She began her week by recording five blocks (2 solo) and eight kills against Daemen in nonconference action on Tuesday. She hit .313 against Daemen. She followed up that performance with three kills and three blocks in a sweep over IUP on Friday at the Hammermill Center. She wrapped up her week with four blocks and seven kills at Seton Hill on Saturday. Greenfield hit .389 against the Griffins with no attack errors.
 
Outside hitter Lauren Sampson (Hilliard, Ohio/Hilliard Davidson) has also been honored as the PSAC Offensive Athlete of the Week three times this season (9/7, 9/28, 10/19).
 
KERESTES CAPTURES GANNON'S CAREER BLOCKS RECORD DURING LAST SATURDAY'S WIN AT SETON HILL; GREENFIELD CLIMBS INTO TOP 10
Ashley Kerestes (Loves Park, Ill./Rockford Lutheran) entered the 2021 season with 412 career total blocks, good for second all-time at Gannon. The redshirt-senior middle blocker has added 52 blocks to her total this season, boosting her total to 464. That total breaks Kara Cullen's previous mark of 463. In addition, redshirt-junior middle blocker Maggie Greenfield (Woodstock, Ontario/Woodstock Collegiate Institute) has moved into ninth place in GU history with 235 career blocks.
 
A LOOK AT THE STATISTICAL RANKINGS
Gannon currently ranks 25th in the country (1st in the PSAC) in team hitting percentage at .248 this season. In addition, the Golden Knights are forcing opponents into the 7th-worst opponent hitting percentage (.105) this season. GU is second in the PSAC in opponent hitting percentage, behind Shepherd from the PSAC East (.099).
 
Gannon ranks in the top 35 nationally in aces (13th), digs (26th), assists (32nd) and kills (26th).
 
Senior outside hitter Lauren Sampson (Hilliard, Ohio/Hilliard Davidson) ranks 33rd in the country (2^nd in PSAC) in kills per set (3.79) and 18th in the country in points per set (4.65). Sampson also ranked 11th in the country and first in the PSAC in aces per set (0.57). Sampson has a team-high 39 aces this season.
 
Setter Ashley Beyers (Lanark, Ill./Eastland) ranks 28th in the country in assists per set (10.38) and 25th in total assists with 820, ranking second in the PSAC in both categories.
 
Maggie Greenfield (Woodstock, Ontario/Woodstock Collegiate Institute) (.297 – 5th), Ashley Kerestes (Loves Park, Ill./Rockford Lutheran) (.293 – 6th), Ashley McClung (Charleston, W.Va./George Washington) (.287 – 8th) and Lauren Sampson (Hilliard, Ohio/Hilliard Davidson) (.260 – 10th) all rank in the top 10 in the PSAC in hitting percentage this season.
 
BEYERS MOVES INTO 2ND PLACE IN CAREER ASSISTS
Ashley Beyers (Lanark, Ill./Eastland), Gannon's redshirt senior setter, has moved into second place in career assists at GU following her 26-assist performance recently against Seton Hill (Sept. 25, 2021). The 2019 AVCA honorable mention All-American leads Gannon with 820 assists this season, boosting her career total to 4,097 assists. Megan Wendel holds the GU career record with 4,244 assists. Beyers' 4,097 career assists currently ranks fifth in Division II among active players. She also went over 1,000 career digs against Cal last Friday night and now has 1,048 career digs.
 
SAMPSON JOINS 1,000-KILL CLUB
Lauren Sampson (Hilliard, Ohio/Hilliard Davidson) became the 18th Gannon volleyball player to record 1,000 career kills against D'Youville back on Sept. 28, 2021. The senior outside hitter recorded six kills on nine attacks during the first set against the Saints, boosting her career total to 1,003 kills. Sampson has recorded double-digit kills 15 times this season. Sampson currently has 1,124 career kills and ranks 13th in school history on the all-time kills list. She needs just 22 more kills to move into 12^th in program history past Heather Petras (1992-96).