ERIE, Pa. – The Gannon volleyball team has clinched the PSAC West regular-season title and secured the No. 1 seed in the Western Division for the upcoming PSAC Tournament.
 
Coach Matt Darling's Golden Knights claimed the top seed with a 25-12, 25-16, 25-23 victory over Edinboro on Wednesday night at Hagerty Family Events Center. It was the eighth consecutive PSAC Division title for the Golden Knights. Gannon improved to 11-1 in the PSAC West and owns a three-match lead over second-place Clarion (7-3).
 
GU has two matches remaining, and Clarion has four matches left, but Gannon owns the tiebreaker between the two teams.
 
"This win feels good," Darling said. "The players really wanted to put a strong performance on display, and I think they did it. Our block was on the mark tonight, and it was nice to see us take care of the ball on offense as well.  This is the kind of performance we wanted in a match that clinches the top seed."
 
Gannon was outstanding at the net again as GU had 11 blocks, and Edinboro had none in the match. Boro dropped to 14-11 and 5-7.
 
 
How it happened:
 
Gannon took charge early in the first set, taking a 10-2 lead on the way to a 25-12 win in the set. Journey Blevins (Richwood, Ohio/North Union) and Hailey Koch (Littleton, Col./Dakota Ridge) both had five kills on seven attacks in the set. Koch's kill sealed the set.'
 
Gannon took a 15-12 lead in the second set before Emma Hall's (Lowell, Mich./Lowell) string of four serves helped the Golden Knights expand the lead to 19-12. Back-to-back kills by Lauren Atwell (Mars, Pa./Mars Area) and Ali Sorenson (Tinley Park, Ill./Lincoln Way East) moved the score to 24-16 before an Edinboro attack error gave the set to Gannon.
 
The third set was back-and-forth the entire way before the Knights took a timeout with the score tied 22-22. After a pair of errors by the Fighting Scots, a Kasey Smith kill trimmed Gannon's lead to 24-23. However, GU sophomore Carissa Treser (Sewickley, Pa./North Allegheny) clinched the 25-23 win with a kill.
 
 
By the numbers:
 
Koch, a senior right side hitter, led Gannon with 12 kills and she added five block assists
 
Sorenson, a senior middle blocker, had nine kills and hit .600 in the match. She also had four total blocks.
 
Blevins had eight kills and Treser added seven.
 
Atwell, a sophomore blocker, paced Gannon with seven total blocks, including two solos.
 
Junior setter Bengisu Arslan (Ankara, Turkey/Private Çankaya Doga Anatolian) had 34 assists and moved into the No. 6 spot in Gannon history with 2,763 career assists.
 
Senior libero Emma Hall (Lowell, Mich./Lowell) led Gannon with 13 digs.
 
Gannon is now 40-4 in the PSAC West in the past three years. The Knights went 15-1 in 2022 and 14-2 in 2023.
 
 
What's ahead:
 
Gannon will visit California (Pa.) on Nov. 15 before closing the regular season at Slippery Rock on Nov. 16.