Georgetown, TX – Following one of the bigger wins of the season against University of Texas-Dallas, the Clarkson University Volleyball team couldn’t maintain its momentum against Trinity College (TX) as the Golden Knights split Saturday afternoon in the final regular season tournament of the year.

Clarkson moved to 27-7 overall on the season and will host the Liberty League Tournament next weekend. The Knights will face Vassar College, the four-seed, at 5:00 pm on Friday at Alumni Gymnasium.

Against UT-Dallas, the Knights lost the first set, but rallied to take the next three in decisive fashion, winning 23-25, 25-19, 25-18, 25-20. Senior outside hitter Sara Artus (St. Regis Falls, NY) averaged nearly six kills per set with 23 total, while freshman Becca Brabec (Lemont, IL) was even better with 16 kills and only three errors in 41 swings. Freshman Adrienne Walker (Centennial, CO) and junior Bailey Walker (Centennial, CO) delivered eight and seven kills, respectively. Sophomore setter Lani Durio (Austin, TX) produced 47 more assists. Defensively, Erika Chin (Katy, TX) led the team with 14 digs, one more than Brabec, and freshman Kristen Orlandini (Fairport, NY) added in 10 digs.

Versus Trinity, the Knights were right in the match in the first set, but things went south quickly in the last two sets as Clarkson was beaten in three straight, 25-21, 25-11, 25-18. Adrienne Walker led the team with 11 kills, followed by nine kills from Artus. Durio delivered 27 more assists while Chin and Artus each had 10 digs. Nicole Edwards (Weiser, ID) also had three blocks.

With her final two assists, Durio set the Clarkson single-season record for assists, surpassing her own standard from last year. She has 1,218 assists this year with at least one match remaining in the 2011 campaign.

“When you pass better than your opponent serves, and serve better than your opponent passes, you're putting yourself in a position to win almost every time,” head coach Johan Dulfer said. “Today, against UT Dallas, we convincingly won that serve-pass battle. I thought we were focused, and played at a very high level of execution. Our energy level was high and we made very smart, aggressive decisions. It's very rewarding to beat a team that's had such a great season in a very strong region. And the way we did it, makes me feel very confident about our week coming up. However, against Trinity, we struggled in the serve-pass game. Tied at 20 in the first set, we still hadn't passed very well and things kind of got away from us from there. The good news is that any time you pass as poorly as we did, and you find yourself battling toe to toe with a team as good as Trinity, you're doing other things right. Overall, I'm very proud of the showing we had in Texas this weekend and look forward to seeing if we can carry that momentum into the championships this weekend at home.”