“This was a great win for us against an obviously strong Clarion team,” said head coach Matt Darling “Lauren Sazama and Morgan Reineke were awesome on the outside and Alex DelPiombo and Kendall Fischer ran the offense to near perfection.”
The Lady Knights turned in one of their best offensive performances of the season after hitting .322 against a Clarion team that was leading the conference in opponents hitting percentage, holding teams to just .116. Gannon won on both sides of the net, recording 62 kills and 11 total blocks compared to Clarion’s 58 kills and two total blocks.
“For us to hit over .300 against a team as good as Clarion probably represents our best achievement so far this season,” said Darling
Leading the offense again was Lauren Sazama (St. Louis, Mo. / Oakville) and her 21 kills. The sophomore hit .259 with 11 digs and three block assists.
Morgan Reineke (New Knoxville, Ohio / New Knoxville) provided Gannon with a spark at the end of the match recording three of her 16 kills in the deciding set, including kills on the final two points. For the match Reieneke hit .412 adding 13 digs and a pair of assists.
Giving Gannon the opportunity to score several times was defense of Jess Saunders (Hinckley, Ohio / Highland). The senior had one of her strongest games of the season, recording 25 digs and finishing without a reception error. Saunders recorded her 1,000th dig of her career on Friday night and is now 11th on the all-time digs list.
Alex DelPiombo (Monroe, Mich. / St. Mary’s Catholic Central) and Kendall Fischer (Macedonia, Ohio / Nordonia) both distributed the ball tonight, keeping Clarion blockers off balance. DelPiombo finished with 43 assists and four aces. Fischer had 10 assists, and dig in the winning effort.
Junior Kara Cullen (Marstons Mills, Mass. / Barnstable) also recorded double-digit kills, adding 10 along with three block assists and a solo block.
In the match, Gannon had four Lady Knights hit over .400 and record at least three kills. Sarah Glancy (Walled Lake, Mich. / Walled Lake Central) had a nearly perfect night, finishing with a match-high .600 attack percentage with seven kills and only one error.
Gannon hands Clarion just its second loss in the Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference (PSAC) as the Lady Eagles are now 26-4 and 17-2. Gannon improves to 19-8 and 12-6 in conference.
Gannon will host Slippery Rock tomorrow in the regular-season finale at 7 p.m. Gannon will honor both Saunders and Fischer for their dedication to the program over the past four years on Senior Night.
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