Game Story: With 15 kills from Xiao Liang, Clarkson was able to set up a rematch of last year's New York Regional Final as the Golden Knights held on for a four-set victory over fourth-seeded New York University Saturday night.

The Golden Knights improved to 35-6 overall, while the Violets finished off their season at 28-8.

Clarkson came out strong in the first two sets and dominated all facets of the game, cruising to a pair of lopsided wins that didn't allow the Violets to get out of the mid-teens. In the third set, however, NYU made an improbably comeback. Clarkson was leading 10-1 before NYU turned on its defensive effort and would not allow the Golden Knights to score any more easy point. The Violets rallied back to within two points (15-13) before scoring 10 straight points, utilizing strong serves to keep the Knights off balance. NYU finished off the set 25-18, setting up the first extra-set match of the Potsdam Regional.

NYU came out with three of the first four points before Liang struck down a pair of thunderous kills that wobbled a pair of Violets players. The Violets held on, however, and kept the lead into the middle points of the set. Trailing by three (12-9), Clarkson reasserted itself on offense, thanks to a pair of kills from both Victoria Kirkemo and Liang. Clarkson would not trail again for the remainder of the match as Lauren Hutchinson put down a kill late following an NYU timeout to give Clarkson a five-point advantage (21-16). From there, the Knights were able to close things out for a seven-point win.

Liang finished with 15 kills and just four errors in 28 swings, hitting .393 for the match. Lani Durio ran the offense with 45 assists and 11 digs and Erika Chin added a match-high 19 digs and four aces. Victoria Kirkemo produced 14 kills, 10 digs, and three aces, and Aishvina Arasu had 10 kills.

Gigi Morally came off the bench for NYU to record a team-high seven kills. Emily Moore led the team with 24 assists and 14 digs, and MaTia Hughes also added 14 digs.

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FRIDAY MATCHES -

Match 1 - 12:30 pm #7 Rivier College Raiders (27-8) - 5th NCAA Tournament Appearance, first since 2011 (Great Northeast Athletic Conference Champions - Automatic Bid) Roster Statistics Schedule vs. #2 Richard Stockton College Ospreys (30-5) - 9th NCAA Tournament Appearance, 6th straight (New Jersey Athletic Conference Champions - Automatic Bid) Roster Statistics Schedule Results - Richard Stockton 3, Rivier 0 - BOX SCORE Set 1: Richard Stockton 25, Rivier 16 Set 2: Richard Stockton 25, Rivier 23 Set 3: Richard Stockton 25, Rivier 22 Rivier Press Conference - Youtube Richard Stockton Press Conference - Youtube

Game Story: Despite trailing in the early going in each set, Richard Stockton was able to rally from early deficits and complete those comebacks to win a three-set sweep over Rivier University in the NCAA Potsdam Regional Quarterfinals Friday afternoon at Alumni Gymnasium on the campus of Clarkson University.

Richard Stockton improved to 31-5 overall, while Rivier fell to 27-9. The Ospreys move on to the regional semifinals at 3:30 pm on Saturday, where they will take on the third-seeded New Paltz.

The deficit for the Ospreys in the opening set was a modest one and they quickly rallied for their most lopsided victory of the match. However, the second and third sets were not so easy. Rivier busted out to a 6-2 lead, taking advantage of Richard Stockton errors and their own solid attack and blocks from Morgan Peck and Lauren Silverman. A timeout (trailing 9-3) by Richard Stockton slowed the run and the Ospreys eventually came back to tie the set at 14-14. There would be four more ties the rest of the way, including 23-23, but an ace from Mayan Alvarado turned the momentum for Richard Stockton, and a block ended the set, giving the Ospreys a 2-0 lead.

Rivier raced out to a 6-1 lead in the second set, forcing a timeout, but after the break Richard Stockton came back to tie things up with a strong attacks from their middles Idi Uffen, Lindsay Schuele and Macy Schwartz. The Raiders would not give up, however. Trailing 23-19, Rivier scored three straight points to pull back within one, capped off bya kill from Molly McCormack. A timeout by the Ospreys ended the run, however, and they were able to close out the set and the match.

Nicole Serekian had a team-best nine kills for Richard Stockton, but also committed eight errors. The team totaled nine blocks with two solo efforts and 14 assists. Idi Uffen had five total blocks (one solo, four assists) to go along with five kills. Shannon Clark and Mayan Alvarado combined for 30 assists, and Alvarado contributed four aces as well. Emily Grube came through with 17 digs for the Ospreys.

Nicole Peacock had six kills and four blocks, while Lauren Silverman produced seven kills and three blocks for the Raiders. Jessica Amaral posted 11 digs and Emily O'Reilly led the offense with 20 assists.

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Match 2 - 3:00 pm #6 Colby Saywer College Chargers (22-10) - 6th NCAA Tournament Appearance, 3rd straight (North Atlantic Conference Champions - Automatic Bid) Roster Statistics Schedule vs. #3 SUNY New Paltz Hawks (32-6) - 4th NCAA Tournament Appearance, 2nd straight (SUNYAC Runners-Up - Pool C At-Large Bid) - TEAM NOTES Roster Statistics Schedule Results - New Paltz 3, Colby-Sawyer 0 - BOX SCORE Set 1: New Paltz 25, Colby-Sawyer 23 Set 2: New Paltz 25, Colby-Sawyer 23 Set 3: New Paltz 25, Colby-Sawyer 16 Colby-Sawyer Press Conference - Youtube New Paltz Press Conference - Youtube

Game Story: In the first two sets Colby-Sawyer raced out to significant leads, but New Paltz slowly plugged away and took each game, eventually sweeping the match in three sets to move on to the NCAA Potsdam Regional Semifinals on Saturday.

New Paltz moved to 33-6 overall on the season, and will face second-seeded Richard Stockton at 3:30 pm on Saturday. Colby-Sawyer saw its season finish at 22-11.

The Chargers scored eight of the nine first points as New Paltz struggled to get on track thanks to some kills from the Colby-Sawyer outside hitter Jackie Keating. After two timeouts, New Paltz finally was able to rally back. Trailing by six points (20-14), the Hawks enjoyed four kills from Morgan Roessler to score nine of the next 10 points and take their first lead. A kill from Becca Borquist ended the set, 25-23.

In the second set, the Chargers had a seven point lead midway through the game (16-9), but once again, the Hawks were able to rally off kills from their outside hitters and take advantage of some mistakes from Colby-Sawyer. However, the Chargers still held a five-point lead (22-17) late and appeared ready to knot the match up at one set apiece before a strong serving run from Anna Paulik turned things around. New Paltz scored eight of the final nine points, recording back-to-back points on block assists from both Marissa King and Morgan Roessler.

The third set was a back-and-forth affair until midway through the game. The two teams were tied at 14-14 before New Paltz scored five of the next six points to force a Colby-Sawyer timeout. The stretch continued as the Hawks were able to avoid digging long attacks from the Chargers while producing offense as well, and poured the points on at the end to win 25-16.

Roessler had nine kills and six total blocks (three solo, three assists) to lead the Hawks offensively, while Marissa King contributed 23 assists and a pair of aces. Libero Carrie Hack led New Paltz with 14 digs while outside hitterse Becca Borquist and Carrie Hack contributed 13 and 12 digs, respectively.

Jackie Keating scored nine kills and had 10 digs to lead the Chargers, while freshman Emilee McBride controlled the middle with eight kills of her own. Laura Smolinski had 28 assists on Colby-Sawyer's 33 kills and also tossed in four aces. Ally Le-Bruno had a match-high 21 digs.

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Match 3 - 5:30 pm #5 Nazareth College Golden Flyers (29-8) - 11th NCAA Tournament Appearance, 3rd straight (Empire 8 Champions - Automatic Bid) - TEAM NOTES Roster Statistics Schedule vs. #4 New York University Violets (27-7) - 10th NCAA Tournament Appearance, first since 2010 (University Athletic Association 5th Place - Pool C At-Large Bid) - TEAM NOTES Roster Statistics Schedule Results - New York University 3, Nazareth 0 - BOX SCORE Set 1: New York University 25, Nazareth 15 Set 2: New York University 25, Nazareth 20 Set 3: New York University 25, Nazareth 21 Nazareth College Press Conference - Youtube New York University Press Conference - Youtube

Game Story: New York University and Nazareth played a five-set thriller less than two weeks ago at the New York Regional Challenge in Rochester and though the match up was just three sets, the two teams showed just how evenly matched they are, but the Violets advanced with a sweep to move on to the NCAA Division III Volleyball Potsdam Regional semifinal on Saturday.

The Violets improved to 28-7 on the season and will face the winner of Westfield State and Clarkson at 6:00 pm on Saturday. Nazareth saw its season end with a mark of 29-9.

NYU came out strong with an assortment of offensive options, getting kills from four different players in the first seven points. The Violets never allowed Nazareth to get back into the set, pushing their advantage to double figures before Naz made a run to score four points in a stretch of five. However, a service error squashed any unlikely comeback as the Violets won by 10 in the opener.

The second two sets were a different story, as the teams seesawed back and forth with frequency. Though NYU led by five points midway through the second, Nazareth used a run that featured several strong kills from Kassandra Buseck to tie the score up at 16-16. The Golden Flyers took the lead a few points later, but NYU again sent kills down from several directions to close the set 25-20.

In the third, it appeared as if the Golden Flyers had finally got on track and would send the match into extra sets, taking a four-point lead (16-12) midway through the game. However, NYU rallied with seven straight points thanks to some kills from Allie Williams. Nazareth responded with equal force, again with kills from Buseck and the match was tied up at 20-20 before NYU claimed five of the final six exchanges to finish off the Golden Flyers.

Williams finished with a match-high 11 kills while Nicole Frias had a strong run with seven kills and no errors in 10 swings. Sonya Bray was almost as efficient, striking for eight kills and no errors in 13 attempts. The Violets ran a 6-2 offensive system and split the assists up between Emily Moore and Katie Robinson, as Moore had 21 and Robinson posted 15.

For Nazareth, Buseck had nine kills while Jennifer Hicks contributed seven kills and five total blocks (one solo, four assists). Madi Wickens had 18 assists while Chelsea Beecher and Maureen Thayer had 13 and 10 digs, respectively.

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Match 4 - 8:00 pm #8 Westfield State University Owls (19-14) - 4th NCAA Tournament Appearance, first since 2011 (Massachusetts State Collegiate Athletic Conference Champions - Automatic Bid) - TEAM NOTES Roster Statistics Schedule vs. #1 Clarkson University Golden Knights (33-6) - 5th NCAA Tournament Appearance, 5th straight (Liberty League Champions - Automatic Bid) - TEAM NOTES Roster Statistics Schedule Results: Clarkson 3, Westfield State 0 - BOX SCORE Set 1: Clarkson 25, Westfield State 12 Set 2: Clarkson 25, Westfield State 7 Set 3: Clarkson 25, Westfield State 5 Westfield State Press Conference - Youtube Clarkson University Press Conference - Youtube

Game Story: After trading points in the early going, Clarkson went on a 8-0 run to take a seven-point advantage in the first set and then never looked back in cruising to an opening round win at the NCAA Division III Potsdam Regional.

The Golden Knights, ranked 22nd in the country, improved to 34-6 overall and will face New York University in the Regional Semifinals at 6:00 pm on Saturday. Westfield State closed out its season at 19-15.

Following some early match jitters, the Golden Knights took little time in finding their groove offensive, hitting .461 overall. Clarkson did have 15 kills in the first set for a .387 clip (just three errors in 31 attempts) as Westfield State did not have any answers for the diverse attack put forth by Clarkson.

In the second and third sets combined, Clarkson hit over .500 and allowed the Owls to score only 12 points. Additionally, Clarkson's serving game put Westfield State on edge, as the Knights posted 13 aces, including six by Victoria Kirkemo.

In Clarkson's .461 overall hitting percentage, the Knights struck for 40 kills against just five errors in 76 attempts. Xiao Liang led the way with a .722 hitting percentage, going for 14 kills against just a single error in 18 swings. Kirkemo also added eight kills with one error in 24 swings, and was outdone by her classmate Aishvina Arasu, who had the same numbers in just 14 attempts. Another sophomore, Lauren Hutchinson produced five kills with one erorr in eight attempts. Lani Durio averaged 11 assists per set and Erika Chin produced 14 digs overall. Kirstie Shurie also had three aces in Clarkson's 13-ace attack.

For the Owls, Julia Warner swung for eight kills, more than half of Westfield State's total of 15. Carolyn Cote produced 10 assists and Lindsay Rescott added in 10 digs.

SOCIAL MEDIA - Single set results will be posted on Twitter and also on this webpage as information is available over the weekend. Click here to following ClarksonAthletics @ClarksonUSports. In addition to following game scores and other information in the New York Regionals, you can check in all of the other action at the following:

NCAA Division III Twitter: @NCAADIII
NCAA Division III Volleyball: #d3vb

TICKETS - Single-session tickets will be available at the site of competition, $6 for adults, $4 for students, $3 for children, and all-session passes are $12 for adults, $10 for students, $7 for children.

WEBCASTING- NCAA Volleyball Regional webcasting will be available for all matches, and should be available 10 minutes prior to the start of each match. In addition to the FREE webstreaming this weekend, live play-by-play should be available for all matches.

LIVE STATS - In-game statistics will be provided for all matches and final box scores will be attached to stories below immediately following the conclusion of each match.