EAST STROUDSBURG, Pa. – Gannon's run to a PSAC Championship came up short on Saturday afternoon as Clarion downed the Golden Knights in three-consecutive sets (25-14, 25-19, 25-17) to win the conference championship and the automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament in early December.
 
The loss snaps Gannon's six-match winning streak and drops the Knights to 28-6 on the season. Clarion improved to 22-9 on the year and has now won four-straight.
 
Saturday was Gannon's fourth PSAC Tournament Championship appearance in the last five years, with Gannon last winning a title back in 2016. The Knights have fallen short in their last three appearances in the PSAC finals.
 
Within the NCAA Atlantic Region, Gannon checked-in at No. 3 in this week's regional rankings. The Golden Knights will learn their NCAA fate and seeding information during Monday's (Nov. 22) tournament selection show, which will air live on NCAA.com at 7:30 p.m. With an at-large bid, Gannon would earn its 12^th NCAA Tournament appearance under head coach Matt Darling.
 
"I felt like we had put together a couple strong performances to get to today, but today we had a losing performance and Clarion had a winning one," Darling said. "If its any consolation, this is our third loss in a PSAC Championship Match, and on two of those occasions we have come out on the winning end at the Atlantic Regional. It's not the end of the road for us."
 
After one of their top performances of the season last night against Shepherd, the Knights struggled to get anything going on the attack today, finishing the match with just 27 kills and 21 attack errors. Clarion, on the other hand, had 40 kills, 10 blocks and five services aces.
 
Gannon finished the match with just six total blocks and one service ace.
 
Lauren Sampson (Hilliard, Ohio/Hilliard Davidson) finished the match with eight kills to lead Gannon. Sam Deinek (South Lyon, Mich./South Lyon East) and Ashley Kerestes (Loves Park, Ill./Rockford Lutheran) each chipped in six kills apiece and Ashley McClung (Charleston, W.Va./George Washington) added four kills. Ashley Beyers (Lanark, Ill./Eastland) passed out a team-high 22 assists.
 
Defensively, Gannon got a team-high 25 digs from Emma Hall (Lowell, Mich./Lowell). Kenzie Lasher (Ford City, Pa./Armstrong) also reached double-digit digs with 11.
 
Julia Piccolino and Cassidy Snider led Clarion in the victory with 11 kills apiece. Lauren Aichinger also drove home seven kills. London Fuller filled the stat sheet for the Golden Eagles with three kills, 31 assists, one ace, nine digs and five solo blocks. Fuller was named the MVP of the 2021 PSAC Volleyball Tournament.