EDINBORO, Pa. – There was no celebrating a PSAC West regular-season title for the Gannon volleyball team on this night.

Edinboro made sure of that as the Fighting Scots showed a lot of fight while rallying for a five-set win over Gannon at McComb Fieldhouse.

Gannon entered the match with a lot of momentum. The Golden Knights had a 13-match winning steak and led the PSAC West by two games with two matches to play. They also learned before the match that they were the No. 1 team in the Atlantic Region in the NCAA Division II's first numerical rankings of the season.

Coach Matt Darling's Gannon team seemingly had the match in control, leading two sets to one and building a 14-2 lead in the fourth set. However, Edinboro's defense and hitting were too much as the Scots outscored the Knights 24-10 the rest of the set.

Edinboro took that momentum into the fifth set. After Gannon took a 5-3 lead, Edinboro outscored the Knights 12-2 the rest of the way as GU fell, 25-23, 15-25, 25-18, 24-26, 7-15.

It marked the first time in two seasons that Gannon has lost a five-set match. The Knights were 5-0 in five-set matches in 2022 and won their first six five-set matches of 2023.

"Obviously not the way we wanted to have things go tonight, especially when we worked out a huge lead in the fourth set," Darling said. "From there, it was some really great effort by Edinboro combined with some really erratic play by us.
 
"We will get back to work tomorrow and hope for better things in our future."

Gannon, which has already clinched a playoff berth and a home quarterfinal match, dropped to 22-4 overall and 13-2 in the PSAC West.

Edinboro, meanwhile, kept its playoff hopes alive by moving to 13-12 overall and 8-7 in the PSAC West.
 

What happened:

• Gannon had to rally to win the first set 25-23 before Edinboro dominated the second set with a 10-point win.
• The Knights settled down in the third set and pulled away for a comfortable 25-18 win.
• Early in the fourth set, Gannon freshman Nehir Yazicioglu (Ankara, Turkey) took control. She served on 12 consecutive points and had four aces as the Knights took a seemingly comfortable 14-2 lead.
• The Scots refused to fold, though, as they played excellent defense at the net and on the back line during the rest of the match.
• Gannon was two points from winning the match when it held a 23-19 lead. However, Gannon had three errors as Edinboro won the next five points to a take a 24-23 lead. Gannon tied the score at 24-24, but Edinboro won the next two points to force a fifth set.

 

By the numbers:

• Gannon struggled with its hitting all night thanks in large part to Edinboro's blocking and defensive digs. The Golden Knights hit just .106 for the match and had negative hitting percentages in the final two sets.
• Junior right side Hailey Koch (Littleton, Col./Dakota Ridge) led Gannon with 16 kills and junior outside hitter Journey Blevins (Richwood, Ohio/North Union) added 13.
• Freshman middle blocker Lauren Atwell (Mars, Pa./Mars Area) was a force at the net with a season-high eight total blocks, while Koch added seven blocks.
• Junior libero Emma Hall (Lowell, Mich./Lowell) was outstanding on defense with a season-high 29 digs, several of them spectacular.
• Natalie Pallone and Kathryn Raschilla paced Edinboro with 13 kills each.

 
What's ahead:

Gannon will look to clinch the PSAC West No. 1 seed with a win at Mercyhurst on Saturday at 1 p.m.