Hailey Koch and Ali Sorenson
Devon Jackson
0
West Virginia St. WVSt 24-10,14-1 MEC
3
Winner Gannon Gannon 25-7,13-1 PSAC
West Virginia St. WVSt
24-10,14-1 MEC
0
Final
3
Gannon Gannon
25-7,13-1 PSAC
Winner
Set Scores
Team 1 2 3 F
West Virginia St. WVSt 19 18 20 (0)
Gannon Gannon 25 25 25 (3)

Game Recap: Women's Volleyball | | Bob Shreve, Assistant Director of Athletics Media Relations

Golden Knights to Meet Old Rival Wheeling in Atlantic Regional Final after 3-0 Win over West Virginia State

ERIE, Pa. – It will be Gannon facing Wheeling in the championship of the NCAA Division II Atlantic Regional. At stake is a trip to the NCAA Division II Elite Eight in Sioux Falls, S.D. from December 12-14.

The two teams took a different route to reach the finals. Gannon came in as the number one seed but struggled to put away No. 8 Shaw on Thursday. But the Golden Knights were impressive in disposing of No. 5 seed West Virginia State (24-10), the Mountain East Conference champion, in three games on Friday night at the Hagerty Family Events Center. The Golden Knights won by by scores of 25-19, 25-18, 25-20 while snapping the Yellow Jackets' 14-match winning streak. Gannon improved to 25-7 with the win.
Wheeling, the number three seed, rallied from the brink of elimination for a five-game win over No. 2 Indiana (Pa.), prevailing 21-25, 22-25, 28-26, 25-23, 15-9.

On Saturday night at 7 p.m. at the Hagerty Family Events Center two old rivals will meet to decide the Atlantic Regional championship. In fact this will be the fifth time since 2015 that Gannon and Wheeling have squared off in the Atlantic Regional championship.

The two last met in the regional final in 2021, with Gannon winning the title 3-0 on the Cardinals' home court. Gannon also won by a 3-0 margin in 2019 and 2017. Wheeling prevailed by a 3-0 score in 2015.

HOW IT HAPPENED
Game 1 – With nerves possibly a factor, the first three serves were all service aces. There were four early ties and a lead change before Gannon gained control. The Yellow Jackets led 4-3 when Gannon ran off five straight points to grab the lead for good at 8-4. West Virginia State had four attack errors and Journey Blevins (Richwood, Ohio/North Union) capped it with a kill. Gannon continued to pull away as the Yellow Jackets were unable to string together more than two points in a row the rest of the set. A Blevins kill and a block by Hailey Koch (Littleton, Col./Dakota Ridge) and Ali Sorenson (Tinley Park, Ill./Lincoln Way East) gave Gannon a 21-14 advantage. Gannon would win game one when Koch made it 25-19 with a kill.

Game 2 – Gannon ran out to an 8-0 lead keyed by a pair of kills from Koch. West Virginia State responded with the next four points and eventually closed to 13-11. The lead was still a narrow 19-16 when Gannon ran off four straight points to stretch the lead to 23-16. Carisa Treser and Journey Blevins (Richwood, Ohio/North Union) each had kills and Blevins ended it with a block. The teams traded points before a Blevins' kill gave Gannon a25-18 win and a 2-0 lead.

Game 3 – Unlike the first two games Gannon played from behind for most of the third game. The game featured the Gannon front row coming alive with numerous blocks. The set featured seven ties and three lead changes. The Golden Knights trailed 19-16 when they rallied to take control. A service error, one of nine by the Yellow Jackets, began a string of straight points to put Gannon at match point. Blevins and Sorenson combined for a block and back-to-back Sorenson kills gave Gannon its first lead since 12-11 at 20-19. Blevins and Sorenson combined for another block and Sorenson made it 23-19 with her seventh kill of the night. The Golden Knights charged the court moments later when Gannon scored the ninth point out of the last ten on Koch's kill for a 25-20 win.

BY THE NUMBERS
Gannon only hit .194 (36 kills in 108 attempts) but held the Yellow Jackets to just .049. The Golden Knights came up huge on the front line with one solo and 24 block assists. Ali Sorenson (Tinley Park, Ill./Lincoln Way East) led the way with nine block assists. Journey Blevins (Richwood, Ohio/North Union) had a block solo and five block assists while Hailey Koch (Littleton, Col./Dakota Ridge) had five block assists.

Blevins and Koch led the offensive attack. Blevins, a three-time All-American, led all players with 13 kills and had a .387 hitting percentage. Koch added 11 kills. Bengisu Arslan (Ankara, Turkey/Private Çankaya Doga Anatolian) contributed 29 assists.

On the defensive side, Emma Hall (Lowell, Mich./Lowell) had a team-high 14 digs. Carissa Treser (Sewickley, Pa./North Allegheny) added seven.
 
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