ERIE, Pa. – Senior Day was a special one for the Gannon volleyball team for so many reasons on Saturday.

Here are just a few:

• Four seniors celebrated their final regular-season home match with the Gannon volleyball team – outside hitter Madde Blake (Crystal Lake, Ill./Crystal Lake Central), middle hitter Makenna Gavin (Pittsburgh, Pa./Avonworth), setter Marta Roicka (Warsaw, Poland/North Central Texas Academy), and defensive specialist Anja Vranic (Belgrade, Serbia/Sport Gymnasium).
• Seniors had a big day on the court, particularly Blake, who turned in her second outstanding hitting performance in a row, in Gannon's 3-0 win over Seton Hill on Saturday.
• Gannon won its 11th match in a row and stayed alone in first place in the PSAC West with an 11-1 record.
• The Golden Knights (20-3) reached 20 wins for the 14th season in a row – not including the COVID season when GU went 16-0.
• The win was No. 399 in the 17-year career of head coach Matt Darling, who is on the verge of reaching 400 victories as early as next weekend.

 
The seniors were honored after Gannon swept Seton Hill by scores of 25-20, 25-22, 25-15 on Saturday at the Highmark Events Center.

"It's always great to win, but on Senior Day, it makes it really special," Darling said. "I had the four seniors in the lineup. Senior Day is a little different with groups like this because of the COVID year; you just never know who might be back.

"It's still good taking a moment to honor them and all of the work that they've done for us – Madde and Makenna for four years, and Anja and Marta for two. We just really appreciate all of the things they've done for us."
 
By the numbers:

• Blake was coming off a sterling, 20-kill performance in a four-set win over California, Pa., on Friday night. She was even more efficient on Saturday as she piled up 14 kills with no hitting errors for an outstanding hitting percentage of .438. Over two days, Blake had 34 kills and only one hitting error. Blake also had three service aces.
• Gavin led Gannon with four total blocks, and she added five kills on just 12 attacks.
• Roicka had a team-high 20 assists from her setter position.
• Junior libero Emma Hall (Lowell, Mich./Lowell) had 18 digs and moved into the No. 4 spot in Gannon history this weekend with 1,613 digs. She passed Hannah Kren (1,588 digs), who was announced as a Gannon Athletics Hall of Fame inductee earlier this week.
• Juniors Journey Blevins (Richwood, Ohio/North Union) and Hailey Koch (Littleton, Col./Dakota Ridge) added 10 and nine kills, respectively.

 
What's ahead:

Gannon, which is on course to host a PSAC quarterfinal match, will play its final four regular-season matches on the road. The Knights will face a couple of red-hot teams when they visit Pitt-Johnstown on Friday and IUP on Saturday.