New Paltz, NY – Freshman Kate Isaksen recorded 42 digs in the opening match to help the Clarkson University Volleyball team pick up an early victory, and the Golden Knights delivered 15 aces in the nightcap to pick up a sweep against New York University and Stockton University on Saturday afternoon at the New Paltz Invitational.

The Golden Knights improved to 5-3 on the season with the two wins, while NYU fell to 4-2 and Stockton dropped to 6-2

In the first match of the day, the Golden Knights were able to wrangle their fifth straight win against New York University with a four-set victory (25-15, 21-25, 25-21, 30-28). Rachael Aird hit .406 for the match with 15 kills in 32 swings with just a pair of errors, while freshman Rachel Reusch hit .500 (7-0-14) with five block assists. Katrina Lane also enjoyed an outstanding match with 12 kills and 19 digs, as well as a solo block and a block assist, and Savannah Peters had 11 kills with just two errors in 34 attempts. Jillian Saenz recorded 48 assists and 17 digs while Kate Isaksen posted more than 10 digs per set with 42 in the four-set match. Kendall Cheval also kicked in 18 digs for the Knights.

In the nightcap, Clarkson dropped the first set, won the next two, fell in the fourth and recovered to earn a five-set win (20-25, 25-20, 25-15, 19-25, 15-10) over Stockton University. For the first time in the young season, Clarkson was truly on its offensive game, hitting .264 in the match with 66 kills. Five different players reach double figures as all of the weapons contributed to the victory. Sierra Rhoades and Rachael Aird each scored 14 kills, while Katrina Lane hit .333 from the outside (13-1-36) and Rachel Reusch hit .417 from the middle (11-1-24). Savannah Peters also chipped in 11 more kills in 33 swings. However, the difference in the match came from the service line as Clarkson earned 15 aces. Kendall Cheval struck for four aces while Lane and Jillian Saenz added three aces each. Saenz also produced 52 assists, while Kate Isaksen (16 digs) and Cheval (14 digs) led the defense. For Stockton, Idi Uffen hit .417 with 13 kills, Stephanie Kovacs hit .364 (12-0-33) and Lindsay Schuele led the team with 17 kills on a .359 hitting percentage.