BUFFALO, N.Y. – The Gannon women's volleyball team used a balanced attack all weekend to go 3-0 in the D'Youville Tournament.
 
Gannon swept host D'Youville 3-0 on Saturday afternoon and then beat Rollins College 3-1 in GU's final match of the weekend.
 
That capped a dominant performance by coach Matt Darling's Gannon team, which won nine of the 10 sets it played in the tournament and improved to 5-3 as the Golden Knights ran their winning streak to four matches.
 
 
What happened:
 
After opening the weekend with a 3-0 sweep of Ursuline College on Friday, Gannon recorded its second straight sweep. The Golden Knights beat host D'Youville 25-20, 25-22, 25-12 as they were in control most of the way.
 
Junior outside hitter Mia Dela Merced (South Elgin, Ill./St. Charles North) registered a career-high 11 kills against the Saints. She also had three blocks.
 
"Against D'Youville, Mia gets the game ball," Darling said. "I thought she had the best match of her career, and we needed it today."
 
Gannon had a slower start to the second match, as Rollins won the first set 25-21 and led GU 23-21 in the second set. However, the Golden Knights won six of the next eight points to pull out the 27-25 win. Gannon secured the set with back-to-back kills by sophomore middle blocker Lauren Atwell (Mars, Pa./Mars Area) and senior right side hitter Hailey Koch (Littleton, Col./Dakota Ridge).
 
The Golden Knights then coasted to victories in the final two sets, limiting Rollins to 17 and 13 points.
 
Senior middle blocker Ali Sorenson (Tinley Park, Ill./Lincoln Way East) led Gannon with 11 kills after pacing GU with 12 kills against D'Youville.
 
"We're really happy to get two wins today," Darling said. "We had to battle all day, and our middles, Ali and Lauren, were terrific today."
 
 
By the numbers:
 
Sorenson led Gannon with 23 kills in Gannon's two matches on Saturday. She hit a meteoric .579 and .611 in the two matches on Saturday and is hitting an outstanding .414 on the season.
 
Atwell had 18  kills on Saturday and Koch added 17.
 
Sorenson also paced Gannon with 11 total blocks on Saturday, including eight against Rollins.
 
Junior setter Bengisu Arslan (Ankara, Turkey/Private Çankaya Doga Anatolian) had 42 assists against D'Youville and 34 vs. Rollins. She now has 268 assists on the season and 2,098 in her three-year career. That ranks eighth in Gannon history.
 
Senior libero Emma Hall (Lowell, Mich./Lowell) had 19 digs in each match on Saturday as she moved closer to Gannon's all-time digs record. Hall now has 158 digs for the season and 1,963 in her career. Taryn Graham (2011-14) is GU's career digs leader.
 
 
What's ahead:
 
Starting Thursday, Gannon will play four matches over three days in the PSAC-MEC Crossover in Wheeling, W.Va.