It was a big weekend for the Gannon University women’s volleyball team, as the Knights started it with a triumphant comeback against PSAC rival Edinboro Friday and then followed that with a sweep of Slippery Rock.
The dual victories left Gannon 20-3 overall and 9-2 in PSAC play going into Friday’s 7 p.m. match at East Stroudsburg. The Knights also will be in action at 1 p.m. Saturday at Kutztown.
A weekend sweep would give Gannon coach Matt Darling his 200th career win at Gannon and make him only the second Knights coach to reach that milestone.
The weekend started with a dramatic comeback against Edinboro. Going into the game, the teams were evenly matched, but the Fighting Scots were undefeated in PSAC competition at 9-0 while Gannon had suffered two losses.
Edinboro appeared to be in control, winning the first set, 25-22, and the second, 25-14.
Something clicked between the second and third sets, though, because that is when Gannon took over. With the game on the line in the third set, the score was tied at 21-21. The Knights capitalized on multiple attack errors to pull ahead and win the set 25-21 to remain alive.
Gannon pulled even by winning the fourth set, 25-18. This is when Hannah Kren continued her march up Gannon’s all-time digs list, as she posted 19 against Boro, putting her third on the list. Eventually she would reach the No. 2 spot by the end of the weekend.
The fifth and final set against Edinboro had some very close back-and-forth action. The Knights did fall behind 12-9 at one point, but they rallied behind team leaders Beka Smith, Lauren Beck, Kelsey Ansec and Kren.
With the score 16-15 in favor of Edinboro, the Knights scored the final three points, with Kren and Beck notching kills from Carolyn Knollman and the Fighting Scots committing an attack error to seal the win for Gannon.
Ansec enjoyed a strong weekend, as she posted a total of 26 kills and six blocks. Additionally she had a season-high 20 points in the team’s game against Edinboro.
Kren, meanwhile, had 12 digs in the win over Slippery Rock, which moved her to second place in the career dig totals with 1,449.
In the coming two weeks Gannon will face off against all four teams of the PSAC Southeast. Following this weekend’s games at East Stroudsburg and Kutztown, the Knights will host Cheyney University on Nov. 4 and the next day battle West Chester, which leads the PSAC Southeast.

MATTHEW NEWARA
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