ERIE, Pa. – The Gannon women's volleyball team had a rare opportunity to play its home opener at a facility where it had never played a match on Wednesday.
After losing its first set at Cathedral Prep's Hagerty Family Events Center, the Golden Knights rallied for a four-set win (24-26, 25-18, 26-24, 25-20) over Ashland in its first match at the facility's Joann Mullen Gymnasium. The Gannon volleyball team will play all of its home games at the Hagerty Family Events Center while renovations continue on the Knights' usual home court, the Highmark Events Center.
Senior outside hitter
Journey Blevins (Richwood, Ohio/North Union) compiled a season-high 27 kills, junior setter
Bengisu Arslan (Ankara, Turkey/Private Çankaya Doga Anatolian) dished out 44 assists, and senior libero
Emma Hall (Lowell, Mich./Lowell) piled up 34 digs.
Hall made history by moving into second place in Gannon history with 1,904 digs. She moved her past Sara Crandall (1,872 digs, 2014-17) and Toni Leitshuh (1,884 digs, 2016-19) during Wednesday's match. She is now 100 digs from passing Gannon all-time leader Taryn Graham (2,003 digs, 2011-14).
"It felt like a dress rehearsal for us in the context of this being the first time we've played in this gym," Gannon head coach
Matt Darling said. "It felt like we were trying to think about what we were going to learn from it more than anything else. … Considering the way things started off, I feel pretty happy to get a win."
Gannon, which was coming off a season-opening trip to Colorado, improved to 2-3 while Ashland dropped to 3-2.
What happened:
Ashland won a back-and-forth first set 26-24 as the Eagles outhit the Golden Knights .270 to .139. However, Gannon hit much better the rest of the match.
Blevins had six kills in the second set as GU claimed a 25-18 win in the second set.
With the sets tied at 1-1, the third set was critical. That's when Blevins dominated. She had 11 kills in the set, including two kills as GU scored the final three points to earn 26-24 edge in the set.
Gannon trailed 19-18 in the fourth set before the Golden Knights scored seven of the final eight points to win 25-20 and claim the four-set win.
By the numbers:
Blevins matched her Gannon career high with the 27 kills. She also had 27 kills against Clarion in a five-set win over Clarion in the PSAC championship match.
Middle blockers
Ali Sorenson (Tinley Park, Ill./Lincoln Way East) and
Lauren Atwell (Mars, Pa./Mars Area) added seven kills apiece.
Gannon hit .255 in the match despite a slow start in the first set.
In addition to
Emma Hall's (Lowell, Mich./Lowell) 34 digs, Gannon received 13 digs from
Lara Toruner (Istanbul, Turkey/Terakki Foundation) and 11 from Arslan.
Ashland had several quality hitters as GraceAnn Hartman (14 kills), Samantha Young (12), and Sara Krizsa (12) each reached double-digit kills. Kyle Urban had 41 assists.
What's ahead:
Gannon will travel to New York for the D'Youville Tournament on Friday and Saturday.