Team Picture VB
Megan Revell

Women's Volleyball Bob Shreve, Assistant Director of Athletics Media Relations

Elite Eight Here We Come!

Gannon defeats Wheeling in four games to win Atlantic Regional

ERIE, Pa. – For the third time in four years the Gannon volleyball team is headed to the Elite Eight. The Golden Knights earned the Atlantic Regional championship by defeating Wheeling in four games by scores of 20-25, 25-22, 25-22, and 25-18.

Their journey will take them to Sioux Falls, S.D. and the Sanford Pentagon for the NCAA Division II National Championships from Decemeber 12-14. Gannon won't know its opponent in the quarterfinals until the NCAA announces the pairings after reseeding the eight regional winners. Gannon is making its fifth appearance in the Elite Eight, all since 2017, and eighth overall for the program.

Saturday's Atlantic Regional final at Cathedral Prep's Hagerty Family Events Center was a renewal of the rivalry between two of the top teams in the region yearly. Since 2015 Gannon and Wheeling have met in the Atlantic Region championship game five times, the last coming in 2021. Gannon has now won the last four meetings. The two teams met on September 19 at Wheeling with the Cardinals winning the first two games before Gannon rallied to win the next two wins. Wheeling prevailed 15-6 in the decisive fifth set.

Gannon (26-7) came in as the number one seed in the regional and advanced to the finals with wins over No. 8 Shaw and No. 5 West Virginia State. Wheeling (27-11), meanwhile, was the seeded third and posted wins over sixth-seed Pitt-Johnstown and No. 2 seed Indiana (Pa.). The matchup featured the two runners-up in their respective conferences, the Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference and the Mountain East Conference.

HOW IT HAPPENED
The first three sets were closely contested and featured a total of 20 ties and 10 lead changes. Gannon took control early in the fourth set running off ten straight points.  Head coach Matt Darling felt the Golden Knights were able to wear down Wheeling.

"We've said many, many times going back to the spring we were going to try to be one of the best blocking teams in the country," related Darling. "When you couple that with a really, really good libero you feel like you can in hang in there in matches like this. I think it would be a mistake to talk about defense if you didn't talk about Wheeling's defense. I mean Journey (Blevins) was just unloading on balls and they just kept the rallies alive. That's where I thought we were a little bit better tonight. We stayed in those long rallies. Even the ones that we lost those rallies, you know, lose the battle but win the war. Those kids started getting tired. 22 got tired. 2 got tired. Those kids took a lot of swings this weekend. I think we were able to outlast them."
The other decisive set was the second. Wheeling scored seven of the final eight points in the first set to prevail 25-20. The set featured 10 ties and five lead changes with neither team leading by more than three points before the Cardinals scored the last five points.

Set number two saw Gannon jump out to an early lead but the Cardinals rallied with a 6-1 run to take an 18-16 lead. They still led by two at 20-18 before Gannon scored the next four points for a 22-20 lead. Ali Sorenson (Tinley Park, Ill./Lincoln Way East) had a kill and then combined with Hailey Koch (Littleton, Col./Dakota Ridge) for a block. Then it was Koch for the kill before Bengisu Arslan's (Ankara, Turkey/Private Çankaya Doga Anatolian) service ace made it 22-20. The Cardinals battled back to tie it at 22-22 but Blevins and Sorenson combined on back to back blocks to put Gannon at game point. A Wheeling hitting error gave the Golden Knights a 25-22 win to knot the match.

"It was big," noted Darling on winning the second game. "It was big. We didn't have a great start. We didn't warm up that well. We've been in this position a few times this year. So we said okay let's see what we can do coming out. We had a lot of blocks in the second set. A lot. I think six. Blocking has gotten us out of some sticky situations throughout the season and I think set two was a good example of that."

The decisive third set saw Gannon again prevail by a 25-22 score. Gannon lost Sorenson for a time with an injury. It also featured an unlikely hero in a sophomore outside hitter who had seen limited playing time. Nehir Yazicioglu (Ankara, Turkey) stepped in with Gannon leading 19-15 and contributed a pair of kills. Koch capped the win with a kill, leaving Gannon a set away from the Elite Eight.

Darling had confidence in Yazicioglu even though she was making her first appearance in the regional. "She was ready to play," he stressed. "She's actually practiced really well the last few days. She did a perfect job. She passed, she attacked with complete abandon. It was a really, really timely performance, and we needed it."

The native of Turkey ended the night with seven kills in 15 attempts and six digs.

Wheeling jumped out to an early 5-3 lead but Gannon followed with the next ten points to grab a 13-5 lead. Yazicioglu had two kills in the run, as did Koch. Wheeling came back to cut the deficit to 16-12 but the Golden Knights weren't about to be denied. Blevins had back-to-back kills as the lead became six points again at 18-12. After that the two teams went back-and-forth scoring a point, leaving Gannon with a 23-17 lead. Blevins took over from there with back-to-back kills for a 25-18 victory.

BY THE NUMBERS
Journey Blevins (Richwood, Ohio/North Union) led all hitters with 21 kills and a .297 hitting percentage, the fourth time this season with 20-or-more kills. The senior added 14 digs and five total blocks. Blevins was one of three Golden Knights named to the All-Tournament Team. She was joined by Hailey Koch (Littleton, Col./Dakota Ridge) and Ali Sorenson (Tinley Park, Ill./Lincoln Way East). Koch had 13 kills for a .268 hitting percentage. In addition she had six total blocks.

Speaking of blocks, Ali Sorenson (Tinley Park, Ill./Lincoln Way East) was spectacular at the net. The senior middle blocker was the third Golden Knight on the All-Tournament Team. One night after finishing with nine block assists she totaled 11 block assists to go with 10 kills and a .292 hitting percentage. The performance came after she left for a period of time in the third set with an injury.

Bengisu Arslan (Ankara, Turkey/Private Çankaya Doga Anatolian) had 53 assists and 11 digs. On the defensive end Emma Hall (Lowell, Mich./Lowell) had 27 digs, the 15th time this season she had 20-or-more digs. She now has 658 digs and boosted her school-record total to 2,468. She is ten digs shy of the school record in a season. Carissa Treser (Sewickley, Pa./North Allegheny) added seven kills and 10 digs.
 
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Players Mentioned

Bengisu Arslan

#10 Bengisu Arslan

S
5' 8"
Junior
Psychology and Criminal Justice
Journey Blevins

#21 Journey Blevins

OH
5' 11"
Senior
Business
Emma Hall

#6 Emma Hall

L
5' 11"
Senior
Accounting
Hailey Koch

#13 Hailey Koch

RS
6' 3"
Senior
Ali Sorenson

#15 Ali Sorenson

MB
6' 2"
Senior
Nursing
Carissa Treser

#8 Carissa Treser

OH
5' 8"
Sophomore
Business
Nehir Yazicioglu

#22 Nehir Yazicioglu

OH
5' 10"
Sophomore

Players Mentioned

Bengisu Arslan

#10 Bengisu Arslan

5' 8"
Junior
Psychology and Criminal Justice
S
Journey Blevins

#21 Journey Blevins

5' 11"
Senior
Business
OH
Emma Hall

#6 Emma Hall

5' 11"
Senior
Accounting
L
Hailey Koch

#13 Hailey Koch

6' 3"
Senior
RS
Ali Sorenson

#15 Ali Sorenson

6' 2"
Senior
Nursing
MB
Carissa Treser

#8 Carissa Treser

5' 8"
Sophomore
Business
OH
Nehir Yazicioglu

#22 Nehir Yazicioglu

5' 10"
Sophomore
OH