Sports

Lady Eagles capture first conference title

On Friday, Oct. 29, Clarion women’s volleyball team took on the Lady Lakers of Mercyhurst University in their quest to conquer the PSAC West.

The Lady Eagles has been battling for this lead after losing to the Fighting Scots of Edinboro University, who took first place after winning against the Golden Eagles Oct. 1.

However, after taking two losses, the Fighting Scots have lost the lead and Clarion has kept consecutive wins in order to stay ahead.

To help keep the win ning streak alive, Kellie Bartman stayed in control with 15 kills, eight digs, three blocks and two aces.

Kaitlyn Anderson also helped out with the win digging 11 times with nine kills and one block.

Junior Amanda Gough stayed strong with 28 assists and added four kills and one ace.

Freshmen Hannah Heeter and Corinne Manley combined for 11 total kills, adding to the win.

The Lady Eagles played in front of a large crowd of fans, tallying 485 for the night.

The Lady Eagles wereattempting to break the Division-II record of people in attendance.

With the win, Clarion faced a match on Saturday against Edinboro which, with a win, would give Clarion the PSAC West lead and a chance to compete for the championship.

The Golden Eagles did just that by hosting and sweeping the Fighting Scots 3-0 with scores of 25-23, 25-17 and 25-18.

The Lady Scots had been working on a 16-game winning streak and hadn’t suffered a loss since Sept. 21.

This put the Golden Eagles officially in first place of the PSAC West conference.

The Eagles are now 25-3 overall and 16-1 in conference play.

The Golden Eagles captured their first PSAC West title in school history with their victory on Tuesday, Nov. 2, with a 3-0 sweep at Slippery Rock University.

During the win, Bartman recorded her 1,000th kill at Clarion.

The Golden Eagles won by scores of 25-19, 25-15 and 25-22.

Bartman had 14 kills and 10 digs in the match, making her the eighth player in school history to give her 1,000 kills.

Anderson also paced the offense with 14 kills of her own.

Chipping in with six kills and four blocks was Manley, and Heeter with six kills and two blocks.

Keeping up her stellar play was Gough, recording 39 set assists, nine digs, two blocks, a kill and an ace.

Also leading the defense was Rhianon Brady with 25 digs and Kayla Rodak with eight digs.

The victory gave the Golden Eagles a record of 26-3 and 17-1 in the conference, giving them the head to head tiebreaker over Edinboro.

The Golden Eagles end the regular season on Friday, Nov. 5, as they travel to Gannon University.

The Lady Eagles is scheduled to start the playoffs on Tuesday, Nov. 9.

The Lady eagles will be hosting an opponent still to be determined.

See “SnapShot” on p. 12