Gannon’s volleyball team swept its PSAC rival California, Pa. in the PSAC quarterfinals Tuesday at the Hammermill Center.

The Knights pulled out victories of 25-13, 25-9 and 25-18; the wins were the product of strong play from the senior trio of Lauren Sampson, Ashley McClung and Ashley Kerestes.

The win sets up the Knights to face Shepherd in the PSAC semifinals Friday.

This performance follows a strong weekend against PSAC West rivals Slippery Rock and California, Pa., which held over the weekend wrapped up the regular season.

The Knights welcomed The Rock to the Hammermill Center, where they completed a 3-0 sweep Friday night.

The highlight of the night was the performance of redshirt senior setter Ashley Beyers, who broke the Gannon record for career assists on the 24th point of the first set.

The record had previously belonged to Megan Wendell, who accomplished it during the 2014 season.

The record-setting assist was recorded on a kill by Sam Deinek, which gave the Knights a 24-13 lead in the opening set.

Overall, Beyers stole the show on this record-setting night, accumulating 37 assists, 16 digs and a pair of block assists. Career-wise, Beyers has amassed 4,271 assists.

In addition, McClung led the team in kills with 14, while Deinek, Maggie Greenfield and Kerestes all added 10 kills each, which gave the Knights a .273 in the match with a total of 48 kills compared to only 15 attack errors.

When it came to the advantage in service aces, the Knights led 5-3.

Senior Emma Hall also had a successful night, anchoring the Knights’ defensive efforts with 22 digs along with four assists; in addition, Kirsten Leitshuh accumulated eight digs.

The Knights continued their winning ways by beating the Vulcans 3-0 at the Hammermill Center Saturday night.

The team’s victory guaranteed Gannon the top seed in the PSAC Tournament and it gave the Knights a share of the PSAC West regular season title.

Saturday’s win was the result of strong team execution, as Gannon got 11 kills and seven digs from senior Lauren Sampson, as well as 10 kills from Kerestes.

Kerestes finished the night with a .556 hitting percentage, achieving 10 kills on 18 total attacks.

In addition, Greenfield and McClung chipped in seven kills apiece while Deinek had six.

Like Beyers in the previous game, McClung was a record-setter, becoming only the 19th Gannon volleyball player to record over 1,000 career kills.

McClung, in light of her seven kills during the game, now has 1,003 kills in her four seasons with the Knights.

Valeria Torres had herself a strong showing, tallying four aces to be matched with four digs.