SHIPPENSBURG, Pa. – Gannon will go for back-to-back PSAC Tournament championships on Saturday.

The Golden Knights' tall front line made sure of that in a five-set win over East Stroudsburg in the conference semifinals on Friday night at Shippensburg's Heiges Field House.

Right side hitter Hailey Koch (Littleton, Col./Dakota Ridge) and middle blocker Ali Sorenson (Tinley Park, Ill./Lincoln Way East) combined for 37 kills, and they teamed with middle blocker Lauren Atwell (Mars, Pa./Mars Area) to put up an imposing blocking wall at the net as Gannon emerged with a 25-19, 25-21, 20-25, 22-25, 15-10 victory.

Koch, a 6-foot-3 junior, finished with a career-high 22 kills and a .375 hitting percentage, while Sorenson, a 6-foot-2 junior, also logged a career-high 15 kills while hitting a stunning .480. They teamed with Atwell, a 6-foot-2 freshman, to combine for 13 total blocks, led by Atwell's six.

"I'm really proud of the grit we had tonight," Koch said. "It's really fun to work hard and get the win. I think we've been working really hard as a team to balance each other out and make sure that everybody can play their part. I think we really worked on that tonight and did well with that."

"It feels great. It was an excellent match tonight," said head coach Matt Darling, whose team will play in the title match for the third year in a row. "East Stroudsburg played really well, and we felt we played pretty well, but they matched us point for point. Even in the sets we won, it was tight. It was an exciting match, a good match to get a W. We're happy to be moving onto the finals."

Gannon (25-4) will meet either Clarion (25-5) in the championship match on Saturday at 7 p.m. Clarion defeated Shippensburg 3-1 on Friday night.
 

Five-set magic:

In the first two sets, it didn't look as if Gannon would need much drama to secure a berth in the finals. Gannon won 25-19 and 25-21 to seemingly take control. The Golden Knights appeared to be ready to sweep the Warriors in the semifinals for the second consecutive year.

Not so fast, said the Warriors. East Stroudsburg showed resiliency by bouncing back to win the third set 25-20 and the fourth set 25-22.

However, the fifth set has belonged to Gannon over the past two seasons, and the Knights owned it again on Friday night.

Coming into the match, Gannon had played in seven five-set matches this season and had won six of them. The only loss in that span was a Nov. 8 loss to Edinboro, which snapped Gannon's 11-match winning streak in five-setters over the past seasons. (Gannon was 5-0 in 2022.)

Gannon's confidence in the final set showed again on Friday as the Golden Knights raced to an 8-3 lead before switching sides. Gannon then closed out a 15-10 win on a couple of Koch kills followed by a match-ending spike by freshman Sydney Wake (Massillon, Ohio/Jackson).

 

Gannon is going back to the title match!
PSAC volleyball semifinals:
Gannon 3, East Stroudsburg 2
GU wins by scores of 25-19, 25-21, 20-25, 22-25, 15-10
Here's match point! Sydney Wake (Massillon, Ohio/Jackson) on the kill.@GannonU pic.twitter.com/vrW5T3dskD

— Gannon Athletics (@GUKnights) November 18, 2023

Darling knew his team was ranked No. 1 in the Atlantic Region coming into this weekend, so his team was likely to have already secured an NCAA Tournament berth. As a result, he told his team to play loose in the fifth set.

"We knew that, win or lose, the season wasn't likely to end tonight, based on where we are in the regional rankings," he said. "So, just go out there and play loose, play to win. I think this is one of my teams where you try to win, not try to make as few mistakes as possible. We got a little bit of our aggressiveness back in the fifth set, and that helped us."

"I'm really proud of the grit we had tonight," Koch said. "It's really fun to work hard and get that win. I think we've been working really hard as a team to balance each other out and make sure that everybody can play their part. I think we really worked on that tonight and did well with that.

"Our big thing right now is being brave. We're trying to take those big swings instead of being timid and tight."     

 
By the numbers:

The front line was outstanding but others contributed too.

Junior outside hitter Journey Blevins (Richwood, Ohio/North Union) had 10 kills, while Wake and senior outside hitter Madde Blake (Crystal Lake, Ill./Crystal Lake Central) had eight apiece.

Junior libero Emma Hall (Lowell, Mich./Lowell) was impressive on defense again with 28 digs.

Setters Bengisu Arslan (Ankara, Turkey/Private Çankaya Doga Anatolian) had 28 assists, and Marta Roicka (Warsaw, Poland/North Central Texas Academy) had 22.

PSAC East Athlete of the Year Anna Coulter led ESU (22-7) with 14 kills.

Gannon has now won five consecutive PSAC playoff matches and seven of their past eight.


Champion Scholar:

Before the match, Gannon junior outside hitter Sam Deinek (South Lyon, Mich./South Lyon East) was honored as the PSAC Champion Scholar as the top student in the PSAC Final Four.
 

What's ahead:

The Knights will be in the finals for the third straight year and will play Clarion for the third straight year on Saturday at 7 p.m.

Gannon lost to Clarion in the 2021 title match but defeated the Golden Eagles in the 2022 finals at the Highmark Events Center. The teams split their two regular-season matches this season.