ERIE, Pa. – Gannon's long-awaited volleyball home opener showcased the team's talent and depth in front of an appreciative Highmark Events Center crowd on Friday night.

After the Golden Knights opened the season with eight consecutive road matches, they looked like a team that was ready to impress their home fans as GU swept Kutztown 25-15, 25-10, 25-14. Gannon improved to 7-2 with its sixth consecutive victory while Kutztown dropped to 5-4.

One of the highlights for Gannon fans was getting to see some of the talent that makes up Gannon's freshman class.

Freshmen Sydney Wake (Massillon, Ohio/Jackson), Brooke Gwiazda (Frankfort, Ill./Peotone), and Carissa Treser (Sewickley, Pa./North Allegheny) all had big moments as coach Matt Darling spread the playing time around with Gannon solidly in control.

"Just a great atmosphere. Lots of people in the crowd; that was fun," Darling said. "The team played really well. I think we had a chance to really show off some of our depth in today's match, and I thought everyone who came in just did a great job. It was a true team win and a fun one."

Seven players had at least three kills for Gannon, which was led by the five kills of junior Journey Blevins (Richwood, Ohio/North Union). Blevins was honored before the match for recently reaching 1,000 kills, including 890 from her two seasons at the University of Findlay.


 

Coach Matt Darling talks about his Gannon volleyball team's sweep of Kutztown in the home opener on Friday night. One of the highlights was getting to see a talented freshman class that included strong efforts by Sydney Wake (Massillon, Ohio/Jackson), Brooke Gwiazda (Frankfort, Ill./Peotone), and Carissa Treser (Sewickley, Pa./North Allegheny).@GannonU pic.twitter.com/kGlTxRUeLO

— Gannon Athletics (@GUKnights) September 16, 2023

Another veteran player who starred for the Knights was redshirt junior setter Marta Roicka (Warsaw, Poland/North Central Texas Academy). She compiled 22 assists and four kills while making her fourth consecutive start.

Wake, a right-side hitter, showed off her power with four kills and a .667 hitting percentage. Gwiazda, a middle hitter, had three kills, and Treser had two kills while displaying some impressive hitting skills.

"There's a lot of talent there, Darling said of the freshman class," Darling said. "They're on a team where there's a lot of talent above them, but we see this in practice every day. It was actually really cool for the first home game for everyone to be able to get out there show what they can do."

Veterans Hailey Koch (Littleton, Col./Dakota Ridge), Sam Deinek (South Lyon, Mich./South Lyon East), and Madde Blake (Crystal Lake, Ill./Crystal Lake Central) each had three kills. Blake also led Gannon with four aces, all of which came during one run of serves in the second set.

Emma Hall (Lowell, Mich./Lowell) had a team-best 14 digs and moved into seventh place on Gannon's career digs list with 1,366. She passed Mandi Altomari, who had 1,364 digs from 2000-03.

Gabriela Fialova led Kutztown with a match-high 10 kills.

Gannon will now turn around and face Bloomsburg on Saturday in a 10 a.m. match at the Highmark Events Center. The match is played early because Saturday is Give Day when student-athletes will participate in service through projects throughout the community.