Sports

Clarion women’s volleyball faces Dowling in Elite Eight

Volleyball coach Jennifer Harrison and graduate assistant Megan Mier get ready for their elite eight trip to Louisville. (Laurie Miller / The Clarion Call)

The Women’s volleyball team makes its first-ever appearance in the Elite Eight of the Division II tournament Thursday, Dec. 2, as it takes on Dowling College in Louisville, Ky.

It is the second straight year that Dowling has advanced to the Elite Eight, their forth visit in the past five years.

They will be, without a doubt, the toughest opponent Clarion has played all year.

Not only were the Golden Lions 30-1 this season, they have only dropped four sets the entire season and are currently riding a 45-set win streak, sweeping every team they faced
in the Eastern Region of the tournament.

“They are a pretty good, physical team,” Clarion head coach and Atlantic Region coach of the year, Jennifer Harrison, said.

“They don’t make a lot of hitting errors, and they have a lot of options on offense. They look to be going through multiple players offensively, which makes it more of a challenge
to defend.”

“We are the same type of team,” Harrison said.

“We run our offense through five different hitters, so we are use to seeing it and playing against it in our gym which should be helpful.”

Not only are they the same type of teams, but both Clarion and Dowling are mirror images of one another.

Dowling head coach, Alex Koszalka, as well as Harrison, were Coach of the year in their respective regions as well as sending multiple members of each team to All- Conference
teams.

However, while Dowling may be the toughest team the Eagles have faced to date, the Golden Lions will have to match up against Clarion’s All-American game changer; Kellie
Bartman.

The Golden Eagles will run most of their offense through their All–American junior outside hitter, who has been nothing short of spectacular

Her 449 kills are second in the PSAC, 36th in the nation.

While Bartman will be the key weapon against Dowling, fellow juniors Kaitlyn Anderson, Amanda Gough and Rhianon Brady, as well as sophomore Rebecca Webb, and freshmen
Corinne Manley and Hannah Heeter, make Clarion a team that cannot be taken lightly.

The match, which begins at 2:30 p.m., can be seen live via streaming video from NCAA.com.