WHEELING, W.Va. – The second-seeded Gannon volleyball team swept sixth-seeded West Virginia State (25-19, 15-20, 25-17) on Friday evening to advance to the Atlantic Region Championship match for the fourth time in its last six NCAA Tournament appearances.
The Golden Knights will defend their 2019 Atlantic Region Championship against the top-seeded and host Cardinals of Wheeling University. The regional championship is set for Saturday at 7 p.m. at Wheeling's Alma Grace McDonough Center. Wheeling advanced to the championship match with a 3-1 win over Edinboro in Friday's second semifinal.
Friday's win clinched Gannon's fifth 30-win season in the last six years and is also
Matt Darling's 350
th career win as the head volleyball coach at Gannon University. The Golden Knights are now 30-6 on the season and have won nine of their last 10 matches.
Gannon hit .336 and racked up 57 kills in the three-set victory over the Yellow Jackets. A trio of seniors led Gannon on the attack, with
Lauren Sampson (Hilliard, Ohio/Hilliard Davidson) leading the way with 19 kills and eight digs. Sampson hit .395 in the match.
Ashley McClung (Charleston, W.Va./George Washington) and
Ashley Kerestes (Loves Park, Ill./Rockford Lutheran) also chipped in 14 kills apiece for the Knights. McClung racked up 14 kills on 29 total attacks and added a pair of blocks in the win. Kerestes added four blocks to her double-digit kills performance.
Ashley Beyers (Lanark, Ill./Eastland) paced the Gannon attack with 47 assists to go with 10 digs, three kills and two blocks from her setter position.
Defensively, Gannon was once again led by 23 digs from
Emma Hall (Lowell, Mich./Lowell) and 13 more from
Katie Becht (Lancaster, N.Y./Lancaster). Sampson and
Kenzie Lasher (Ford City, Pa./Armstrong) also chipped in defensively with eight and seven digs, respectively.
Gannon started fast and opened an 18-9 advantage in the first set. During the stretch, Sampson and Kerestes combined for nine kills. West Virginia State responded following a timeout by scoring six-consecutive points, five of which were the result of Gannon attack errors.
From that point, Gannon scored seven of the final 13 points to wrap up the 25-19 set win. McClung and
Maggie Greenfield (Woodstock, Ontario/Woodstock Collegiate Institute) combined for the last four kills of the set for Gannon.
In set two, State started fast and quickly opened a 7-3 advantage following a kill by the D2CCA Atlantic Region Player of the Year, Jenna Dufresne. Gannon quickly turned the momentum though, striking with six of the next eight points to tie the set at 9-9. McClung scored three-straight Gannon points during the stretch on kills from the right side.
With the score still tied 20-20 following Yellow Jacket kills from Kiersten Eggleton and J'Lana Stone, Gannon wrapped up the set with five-straight points. Sampson recorded three kills during the stretch and Kerestes put the set away with a kill to make it 25-20.
The third set began with State opening an early 5-2 lead, led by four kills from Grace Martin and a GU ball handling error. From that point, the score remained within one or two points until the Yellow Jackets went in front by a narrow 9-8 margin.
However, Gannon took control of the set with five-straight points and scored 10 of the next 14 points to pull ahead by an 18-13 score. McClung had four kills and a block during the stretch for the Golden Knights. That scoring run proved to be the difference as West Virginia State was unable to pull closer than a four-point margin the rest of the way.
Statistically, Gannon held lopsided advantages in total kills (57-32), assists (54-30) and digs (65-48). Both teams recorded six total blocks.
West Virginia State hit just .169 in the match with 32 kills and 12 attack errors on 118 total attacks. State got a team-high eight kills from Dufresne, while Gabrielle Bullock chipped in seven kills. Eggleton recorded a double-double with 13 assists and 12 digs. West Virginia State's season comes to an end at 29-5 overall.
