The Gannon University volleyball team needed a bounce-back win after a tough conference loss on Friday night.

The Golden Knights got just that Saturday, thanks to some strong serving by several players and some powerful hitting by Madde Blake (Crystal Lake, Ill./Crystal Lake Central).

Blake, a junior outside hitter, had career highs of 20 kills and 22 points as Gannon swept Indiana (Pa.) 26-24, 25-16, 25-10 at Highmark Events Center.

The dominant win came one day after the Golden Knights lost to first-place Clarion by a sweep on Gannon's home court. Gannon improved to 13-5 overall and 7-1 in the PSAC West with the win Saturday afternoon.

"It was necessary," Gannon coach Matt Darling said, "and I think we all understood after (Friday) night that this was what it was all about, having a good performance against IUP today. So, I'm glad we did."

The Golden Knights did have their struggles in the first set, giving up a 15-11 lead before IUP tied the match at 21-21. Gannon extended the lead to 24-21 before IUP responded with three straight points.

The Knights then won the set on back-to-back kills by Maggie Greenfield (Woodstock, Ontario/Woodstock Collegiate Institute) and Blake.

Gannon took command in the second and third sets on the strength of some outstanding serving that frequently kept the Crimson Hawks off-balance and prevented them from setting up their offense. Gannon finished with 10 aces, including four by Anja Vranic (Belgrade, Serbia).

Blake and sophomore outside hitter Sam Deinek (South Lyon, Mich./South Lyon East) took over from a hitting standpoint.

"Once we start getting it to the targets, we created more opportunities for ourselves," Darling said. "Obviously, the aces are nice, but even when we're not getting the aces, if they're giving us easy balls back, that just let our outsides get some one-on-one opportunities. Our outsides scored a lot because of that. … They stepped up big-time today."

Blake had five kills in the second set and eight in the third as she mixed a variety of smashes and tips. She finished with a hitting percentage of .474.

"I thought Madde had a really efficient night tonight," Darling said. "She was good all the way around."

Deinek finished with 13 kills and a match-best .571 hitting percentage.

Freshman setter Bengisu Arslan (Ankara, Turkey) had a solid match with 41 kills, and sophomore libero Emma Hall (Lowell, Mich./Lowell) turned in outstanding defensive play with 25 digs.

IUP dropped to 15-4 and 5-3.