Atlanta, GA – The second day of the Emory National Invitational was not much kinder to the Clarkson University Volleyball team as the Golden Knights dropped a pair of matches on Saturday against Washington & Lee and Susquehanna.

The Golden Knights saw their record fall to 19-14 at the conclusion of the regular season, losing to Washington & Lee (22-8) in five sets (19-25, 25-13, 23-25, 25-17, 17-15) and to Susquehanna (30-6) in three sets (25-11, 25-19, 25-20). Clarkson, which has now lost six straight and four five-set matches in the past eight days, will look to regroup heading into the conference tournament next weekend at Vassar College.

For the second straight day, the Golden Knights opened with a five-set match that didn't go their way despite a 2-1 lead through the first three sets. Clarkson handled the Generals in the first set, turning an 8-8 tie into a 15-8 lead, cruising to an easy win. The second set was the exact opposite as Clarkson watched W&L turn a 5-5 tie into a 22-10 lead and a lopsided win of its own. Back-to-back kills from Maddie Bredehoeft at the end of the third set gave the Knights a 25-23 victory. The fourth set appeared to be going Clarkson's way at the midway point, as the Knights led 15-13, but the Generals rattled off 12 of the final 14 points for a 25-17 win. In the fifth set, the Knights had the lead at the bench switch (8-7) and improved their advantage to four points (11-7) following a Rachel Reusch kill, but W&L scored the next five points to take the lead and took advantage of three Clarkson miscues down the stretch to win 17-15.

Rachel Reusch and Rachael Aird each delivered 14 kills, but the rest of the Clarkson offense essentially hit even for the match (25-21-124 - .032). Meghan Edmund recorded a double-double with 39 assists and 14 digs, while Kate Isaksen led the team on defense with 30 digs. Kendall Cheval also contributed 18 digs, and Savannah Peters tossed in seven kills, seven digs, and four total blocks. For the Generals, Mackenzie Shand hit .417 with 12 kills and five block assists and Meg Guignon produced 14 kills and 26 digs. Katie Volk added 25 digs, and Mollie Ray produced 37 assists. Overall, W&L had 12 team blocks (3 solo, 18 block assists).

Clarkson couldn't get much going on offense to start against Susquehanna and lost the first set by double digits. In the second set, Clarkson found itself in a quick hole, trailing by five (10-5) only to see the deficit jump to 10 late (23-13). Clarkson took advantage of some errors by the River Hawks and found enough offense to get close (23-19), but the deficit proved too much to overcome. The third set was near carbon copy of the second as Clarkson fell behind by five (10-5) and trailed by as many as seven late (21-14). Again, the Knights wouldn't go away quickly, climbing back to within four on several occasions, but again the margin was too much at that late stage of the set.

Katrina Lane scored six kills with a .312 hitting percentage, but Clarkson struggled on offense with a .090 hitting percentage. Meghan Edmund produced 18 assists and Kate Isaksen contributed 14 digs. Rachel Reusch also chipped in four kills and three block assists. For Susquehanna, Morgan Lowe hit .409 with 11 kills, Erin Byrne hit .444 with 10 kills, and Marykate Sherkness struck for 12 kills and a .308 hitting percentage. Maggie O'Hearn had 37 assists and 10 digs, while Kasey Bost and Caroline Beohm each delivered 12 digs.