Isaac Petkac
0
Fayetteville St. FSU 21-6,15-2 CIAA
3
Winner Gannon Gannon 25-7,13-1 PSAC
Fayetteville St. FSU
21-6,15-2 CIAA
0
Final
3
Gannon Gannon
25-7,13-1 PSAC
Winner
Set Scores
Team 1 2 3 F
Fayetteville St. FSU 16 17 23 (0)
Gannon Gannon 25 25 25 (3)

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

No. 1 Golden Knights Advance with 3-0 Sweep of No. 8 Fayetteville State

Gannon to face UPJ in Atlantic Regional semifinals

ERIE, Pa. – The Gannon volleyball team took the first step towards a second straight trip to the Elite Eight and the fourth in five years on Thursday. The host of the NCAA Division II Atlantic Regional, the top-seeded Golden Knights disposed of a game Fayetteville State squad 3-0. They won by scores of 25-16, 25-17, 25-23 over the No. 8 seed Broncos, who qualified for the regional as the CIAA champions..

Head coach Matt Darling's team has now reached the semifinals of the Atlantic Regional ten straight years, save the 2020 COVID season when the NCAA did not sponsor a championship.

Gannon will meet No. 4 seed Pitt-Johnstown in the second of two semifinals on Friday. That match gets underway at 7 p.m., preceded by No. 2 East Stroudsburg vs. No. 3 Indiana (Pa.) at 4 p.m. The Golden Knights and Mountain Cats meet for a fourth time with Gannon winning 3-0 and 3-0 in the two regular season matches, followed by a 3-1 triumph in the PSAC Quarterfinals.

Friday's semifinal winners will meet at 4 p.m. on Saturday with a trip to the Elite Eight on the line.

MATT DARLING COMMENTS: "We're very excited to be moving on, as that was our main goal going in. The performances of Sydney and Kasey were really important, as they put a lot of points on the board. Fayetteville State played us tough and forced us into some adjustments, so I give the players credit for making the adjustments to get the win."

25 AND HOPEFULLY COUNTING: Gannon improved to 25-7 with the quarterfinal win. That makes it nine consecutive seasons with 25-or-more victories, save for the abbreviated 2020 COVID year.
FIRST SET SHOWCASED BY SCORING RUN: Gannon trailed just twice in the first set, the last time at 14-13. The Golden Knights proceeded to outscore the Broncos 12-2 the rest of the way, scoring the next six points.
FAST START FUELS WIN IN SET TWO: A hot start left the Golden Knights with a new insurmountable lead in game two. Gannon ran off the first 10 points in the set, capping an overall 22-2 burst from the first set into the second. To Fayetteville State's credit the Broncos closed the gap to 16-12 at one point, but Sydney Wake (Massillon, Ohio/Jackson) had four kills in a 7-2 run as the Golden Knights pulled away.
BRONCOS FINISH WITH A KICK: While Fayetteville State dropped the third set by a 25-23 margin, the Broncos definitely put a scare into the Golden Knights. FSU took its largest lead of the night at two points on three occasions, the last at 16-14. The score was still tied at 21-21 before the Golden Knights finally put away the Broncos at 25-23 on an Abbey Williams' (Chicago, Ill./Mother Mcauley Liberal Arts) kill.
GANNON ENJOYS STRONG HITTING NIGHT: The Golden Knights hit .324 for the match, including a sizzling .485 in the second set.
BY THE NUMBERS: Sydney Wake (Massillon, Ohio/Jackson) was one of two Golden Knights to hit double figures in kills. The junior right side had a team-high 15 kills and a .414 hitting percentage. Freshman outside hitter Abbey Williams (Chicago, Ill./Mother Mcauley Liberal Arts) added 11 kills. Williams also had three service aces. Bengisu Arslan (Ankara, Turkey/Private Çankaya Doga Anatolian) totaled 38 assists. Kasey Smith (Meadville, Pa./Villa Maria) chipped in nine kills and a .438 hitting percentage. Defensively Carissa Treser (Sewickley, Pa./North Allegheny) had nine digs with Arslan and Williams finishing with eight apiece. Williams was also a force at the net with a block solo and three block assists.
QUARTERFINALS A CLEAN SWEEP: All four of Thursday's quarterfinal matches were decided by 3-0 scores. In addition to No. 1 Gannon's 3-0 triumph over No. 8 Fayetteville State, the day began with a 3-0 win for No. 3 Indiana (Pa.) over No. 6 Fairmont State, followed by a 3-0 victory for No. 2 East Stroudsburg over No. 7 Charleston (WV). The final match of the day saw No. 4 Pitt-Johnstown sweep No. 5 Shepherd 3-0. 
 
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