While the rest of campus was on fall break, the Gannon University volleyball team was a little busy with its race to the top of the PSAC.
The Knights claimed a pair of victories and suffered one defeat to leave them with an overall record of 18-3 and a 7-2 mark in PSAC play going into Friday’s 7 p.m. home date with highly regarded Edinboro at the Hammermill Center.
Senior Hannah Kren explained that the team is excited to play Edinboro.
“The most important thing for Gannon volleyball on Friday is to stay focused and stick to the game plan,” Kren said.
Gannon currently occupies second place in the in the PSAC-Northwest and is two games behind first-place Edinboro, which has won 14 straight matches and is 16-4 overall and9-0 in conference play.
The busy week started with a game Oct. 11 at rival Mercyhurst’s home court. Fortunately for the Knights — and unfortunately for the Lakers — home-court advantage was not a thing at the time.
Mercyhurst started the matchup with an ace on the first serve, but from there it was all in Gannon’s favor as the Knights won the first set, 25-13.
The Lakers were able to close the gap on the second set, but that was not enough against Gannon’s key players Kelsey Ansec, Lauren Beck, Carolyn Knollman and Sara Crandall, who led the second set to another victory (25-21).
The third and final set was yet again taken by Gannon in a close one, 25-22.
The entire team performed well with individual credit going to Ansec, who had 10 kills and four blocks, and Kren, who added eight kills and two blocks.
Kren also went up the list of all-time sets played with 408, putting her sixth on the list.
Gannon’s next game would be at home against Cal. U on Friday, and the Vulcans — who came into the game at 13-5 overall and 5-2 in the PSAC — got the better of Gannon in a 3-1 win.
The Knights started off strong by taking the first set in a back-and-forth battle, 25-21. The second set would end 25-21 in favor of Cal with Gannon unable to gain the lead throughout.
The Vulcans were able to pull ahead in the third and fourth sets and finished with 25-20 margins.
Though the Knights were unable to get their fourth win in a row, the game still came with some high notes. This included Kren getting a double-double with 18 digs and 12 kills, Sara Crandall putting up 27 digs, and Carolyn Knollman getting 39 assists.
The Knights’ last game for fall break would be another one at home, this time against Seton Hill. Up to that point, the Griffins had been solid in PSAC competition, going 7-1 with the only loss coming to Edinboro.
But Gannon was able to dominate Seton Hill, never letting the Griffins score more than 21 points in a set on the way to a 25-15, 25-17, 25-21 sweep.
The stat sheet showed more strong performances from the frequent names featured in every game. Ansec recorded nine kills and two blocks, Beck was at the top of the block column though with six, and Kren had an outstanding performance, netting yet another double-double.
So far this year Hannah has had eight double-doubles and this one featured 11 kills and 13 digs.
MATTHEW NEWARA
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