ERIE, Pa. – The 2023 Gannon women's volleyball team certainly has a flair for dramatic victories.

Coach Matt Darling just wishes the Golden Knights' best moments wouldn't come after they fall into a two-set deficit.

For the third time in five PSAC West matches, Gannon trailed 2-0 and then rallied for a five-set win. On Friday night, the Golden Knights regrouped to beat a talented IUP team, 20-25, 16-25, 25-21, 25-22, 15-13.

The victory moved Gannon's overall record to 12-3 and pushed GU's PSAC West record to 4-1.

"(I feel) great about what the ability to come back from zero-two says about our team. I love the fight. I love resilience," Darling said. "But (I feel) bad about the fact that we're down 0-2 seemingly every night."

IUP dropped to 13-6 overall and 3-2 in the PSAC West.




What happened:

• Gannon has now played four five-set matches and won all of them. The Knights were 5-0 in the five-set matches in 2022, making them 9-0 in matches that go the distance over the past two seasons.
• Gannon received a spark off the bench from veteran outside hitter Sam Deinek (South Lyon, Mich./South Lyon East). The 6-foot-2 junior had eight kills and played strong defense while helping to turn the momentum of the match. "Sam Deinek (South Lyon, Mich./South Lyon East), who hasn't had a lot of playing time in recent weeks, came in in the third set and absolutely turned the outcome of the match for us," Darling said.
• The turning point of the evening came in the fourth set when Gannon trailed 22-16. With junior libero Emma Hall (Lowell, Mich./Lowell) serving strongly, Gannon scored the final nine points of the set to grab the win and the momentum.
• Gannon also trailed 4-1, 6-4, and 12-11 in the fifth set but each time the Knights rallied to take the lead.
• An energetic crowd, loaded with fellow student-athletes, cheered on Gannon and became extremely loud in the fourth and fifth sets.

 

By the numbers:

• Junior outside hitter Journey Blevins (Richwood, Ohio/North Union) led Gannon with 18 kills, and junior right side Hailey Koch (Littleton, Col./Dakota Ridge) had 11.
• Junior Marta Roicka (Warsaw, Poland/North Central Texas Academy) had 35 assists as she ran the offense.
• Gannon's front line blocked extremely well and disrupted IUP's attack, particularly in the final three sets. Freshman Lauren Atwell (Mars, Pa./Mars Area) led GU with five blocks, Koch had 4.5, and junior middle blocker Ali Sorenson (Tinley Park, Ill./Lincoln Way East) had three.
• Hall had 20 digs to lead Gannon's back line. She also finished with a team-high three aces.
• Delaney Concannon and Simay Memisoglu paced IUP with 16 kills apiece.

 
Up next:

Gannon will host Pitt-Johnstown on Saturday at noon. The match was moved up two hours from its original starting time.