Chicago, IL - Posting a victory in the first match of the Gargoyle Classic at the University of Chicago, the Clarkson University Volleyball team officially set a new standard for best start in program history. However, the next three matches made for an abbreviated celebration as the Golden Knights lost three straight, including two on Saturday against North Central University and Buena Vista College.
The Golden Knights, now 16-5, lost in three straight to North Central on Saturday morning, 25-16, 25-19, 25-21, and then fell in four to Buena Vista 12-25, 25-22, 25-22, 27-25.
Clarkson struggled against North Central as the team hit for a negative percentage overall (20 kills and 21 errors). Sara Artus (St. Regis Falls, NY) led the team with five kills and Jenna Stock (Johnstown, NY) had 17 assists. Alison Schroeder (Webster, NY) and Amanda Rankin (Horseheads, NY) contributed 17 and 12 digs, respectively.
"North Central is a very good team," said head coach Johan Dulfer. "They are fast and athletic and I thought that the speed of their game was what intimidated us a little. We had trouble closing blocks and anticipating on defense. On their side of the net, they defended us well. I thought we hung in tough, because any time you hit zero in a match, you would expect to be down by more, and our scores were a lot closer which tells us we fought hard."
The Knights appeared to recover against Buena Vista immediately following the early loss on Saturday, with an overwhelming win in the first set (25-12). However, the opponents collected themselves to win three straight close sets.
Artus led the team with 13 kills, but it was Stock who enjoyed the most success with 10 kills and no errors in 15 swings. She also had 30 assists, 5 digs, and 2 aces. Schroeder led the team in digs again with 19, while senior captain Davanna Chetney (Fulton, NY) reached double figures in that category as well with 10.
"First of all, Buena Vista is a much better team than their record gives them credit," said Dulfer. "They will win some more matches this year if they play like they did in the last three sets against us. Ironically, in the first set, we probably played our best volleyball of the season, but we weren't quite able to sustain that level throughout the match. BVC reduced their error percentage as ours went up. I thought that tough serving and gutsy blocking got us back into the fourth set and we almost pulled it off. All in all, I'm proud of how we played against some really tough competition here in Chicago this weekend and we look forward to applying what we learned when we return home."
