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Scoreboard

Clarkson University Athletics

LLCHamps2016VB
Clarkson Volleyball won its fifth straight Liberty League Championship and will head to the NCAA Tournament for the eighth straight season. - Photo courtesy of Vassar Athletics
3
Winner Clarkson CU 21-14
1
Vassar College VCWVB 21-10
Winner
Clarkson CU
21-14
3
Final
1
Vassar College VCWVB
21-10
Set Scores
Team 1 2 3 4 F
Clarkson CU 25 23 25 25 (3)
Vassar College VCWVB 19 25 21 22 (1)

Game Recap: Women's Volleyball | | November 5, 2016

Make It Five: CU Volleyball Claims Liberty League Championship Again

Poughkeepsie, NY – Four years ago, the Clarkson University Volleyball team was swept by Skidmore during the regular season only to beat the Thoroughbreds in the league championship game for their first Liberty League post-season championship. Although none of the current Golden Knights were on that team, they nevertheless repeated history on Saturday, downing Vassar College in four sets (25-19, 23-25, 25-21, 25-22) after getting swept by the Brewers in the regular-season, claiming their fifth consecutive Liberty League title in the process.

The Golden Knights improved to 21-14 overall with the win and will now await their NCAA destination on Monday morning. Vassar, at 21-10, will have to hope that its slate was strong enough for at-large consideration.

In the opening set the two teams traded points at the start, but Clarkson went on a 7-1 run to take an 11-5 lead in the early going. Vassar twice got back to within four, but Clarkson used another 4-0 run to move out to a 21-12 edge. Still up by nine (24-15), the Golden Knights appeared to lose a little momentum as Vassar was able to score four straight points, but a service error by the Brewers ended any hope of a comeback as Clarkson went up 1-0 with a 25-19 victory. Katrina Lane was big in the first set for the Knights with six kills, while Rachel Reusch delivered five kills in just eight attempts. Even more impressive was Clarkson's effort in the back row, as Kate Isaksen had 11 digs and Sophia Holms nearly matched the libero with nine digs of her own.

That bit of momentum for Vassar was stifled early in the second set as Clarkson scored the first four points and raced out to a 9-3 lead thanks to five fast kills from Rachael Aird. That six-point edge was reduced to three quickly and the two teams would battle back and forth for the remainder of the set. Clarkson appeared ready to take the set when a Katrina Lane kill and ball handling error by the Brewers made it 22-19, but another timely break by Vassar helped shift things in its direction. Gabby Miller recorded two aces to help Vassar come all the way back and the Brewers eked out a 25-23 win on an ace to tie the match at 1-1.

For the third straight set, Clarkson found itself leading as the first team to reach double digits, but unlike the second set the Golden Knights would never relinquish the lead. Vassar was back within a point twice (14-13, 15-14), but Rachel Reusch was big for Clarkson down the stretch, recording three straight kills to push Clarkson's lead to five (19-14). Katrina Lane also scored three kills in a lengthy run by the Knights, but it was Sophia Holms who would hit a cross court kill from the outside to the back corner to finish the set off for Clarkson, 25-21. Rachel Reusch recorded six kills in the third set, while Aird produced five kills for the second straight set.

The fourth set finally saw Vassar gain an early lead after trailing in each of the first three sets. Down 5-3 after eight total points, Vassar scored six straight to take a 9-5 lead, marking the first time the Brewers enjoyed more than a two-point lead at any point  in the match. They maintained that four-point edge for a little longer (12-8), but Clarkson rattled off four straight to tie things up at 12-12. Vassar regained its lead thanks to back-to-back aces from Annie MacMillan, but Clarkson's offense found a groove thanks to its outside hitters. Katrina Lane scored three kills and Sophia Holms added two more as the Knights went on an 8-1 run to take a 21-16 lead and force a timeout by the Brewers. Vassar rallied out of the break, winning five of the next six points, but the Brewers could never tie the score. Rachel Reusch scored a kill to make it 24-22 and Katrina Lane put an exclamation point on her outstanding match by finishing off her 20th kill to help the Knights claim their fifth straight league championship.

Katrina Lane easily surpassed her previous career-high with 20 kills, hitting .288 (20-5-52), while Rachel Reusch was virtually unstoppable with a .652 hitting percentage (16-1-23). Rachael Aird recovered from a slow start with 15 kills. Jillian Saenz ran the offense well with 54 assists, pushing the team to a .290 clip for the match. Defensively, Kate Isaksen finished with 27 digs, while Sophia Holms and Kendall Cheval contributed 19 and 16 digs, respectively. Aird was chosen as the Liberty League Tournament's Most Valuable Player, while Lane and Isaksen joined her on the All-Tournament team.

For Vassar, Jane McLeod scored 17 of her 18 kills over the last three sets, while Devan Gallagher added 15 kills. Gabby Miller had a big second set, scoring four of her 12 kills in that frame.  Annie MacMillan added 46 assists and two aces. Sierra Tobin led the team with 20 digs, while Lauren Ninkovitch tallied 13 digs. Miller also produced 13 digs and three aces.
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