ERIE,
Pa. - The Gannon volleyball team secured the top seed in the Western
Division for the upcoming Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference (PSAC)
Tournament with a 3-0 win over Slippery Rock Thursday night at the
Hammermill Center.
The Lady Knights guarantee themselves a chance to host a PSAC
Quarterfinal match Tuesday, November 13 against the four seed from the
Western Division. Hosting rights for the PSAC Final Four will be awarded
to the highest remaining seed from the Western Division
following the quarterfinals.
The Lady Knights rolled to the 3-0 win Thursday with set scores of
25-16, 25-15 and 25-16. Gannon limited Slippery Rock to just a .041
hitting percentage after the Rock committed 21 attack errors. Gannon
racked up 41 kills, seven aces and seven total blocks
en route to the win.
Gannon jumped on the Rock quickly in the first set, opening with a 15-7 lead.
Lauren Sazama (St. Louis, Mo. / Oakville) racked up six of Gannon's
13 kills in the set. Slippery Rock managed just five kills as a team in the frame.
The Lady Knights were helped in the second set by a 9-0 run behind the
serve of Sazama. Three different Lady Knights picked up kills during the
stretch, including three from
Morgan Reineke (New Knoxville, Ohio / New Knoxville). Gannon
closed out the set on a 5-1 run with kills from Sazama and
Megan
Wendel (Aurora, Ohio / Kenston).
Gannon was able to fight off a comeback effort from Slippery Rock in the
fourth set to secure the sweep. With the score 14-7, Slippery Rock put
together a 5-1 run to close the gap. However, Gannon answered with kills
from Sazama and Reineke to regain momentum.
The Lady Knights finished out the set on a 10-4 run.
Gannon was led offensively by the senior class with Reineke leading the
way with 13 kills and a .522 hitting percentage. Sazama totaled 11 to go
along with 11 digs, marking her sixth-straight double-double. The
senior also added five assists.
Sarah Glancy (Walled Lake, Mich. / Walled Lake Central)
put away seven kills on 14 touches for a .357 hitting percentage. She added five block assists.
Wendel dished out 26 assists and recorded five kills without an error. The sophomore also added six digs.
Maggie Desrosiers (Uniontown, Ohio / Hoover) added nine
digs, two assists and an ace.
Taryn Graham (Huron, Ohio
/ Huron) also had nine digs while
Morgan Walters (Girard,
Ohio / Girard) added another three aces to her season total.
Slippery Rock was limited to just 21 kills as a team, led by Michelle
Hren and Sarah Gadwallader who each totaled seven. Hannah McShea had 10
digs while Janna Reilly dished out 12 assists.
Gannon improved to 24-5 this season with a 16-2 mark in conference play.
Slippery Rock fell to 14-8 overall and 7-11 in the PSAC. Gannon will
close out the 2012 regular season Saturday against Clarion. The match,
which starts at 7:30 p.m., will also serve as
senior day for Reineke, Sazama and Glancy.
