Potsdam, NY - There were hiccups along the way, but the Clarkson University Volleyball team won its third straight Liberty League regular-season title on Saturday with four set victories against both RIT and Union in the Liberty League's fourth and final crossover event.

The Golden Knights, ranked 17th in the latest AVCA Coaches' Poll, concluded the conference slate a perfect 12-0 (24-6 overall) for the third straight year and will host the league championship tournament on November 6th and 7th. Joining Clarkson will be three of the four teams involved in the crossover this weekend, Union, RIT and St. Lawrence.

"All year long we've been playing the absolute best teams in the country in order to be ready for big matches like today," Clarkson head coach Johan Dulfer said. "Because of some bad luck we've had to improvise at times but that meant that absolutely everyone on our roster has had to step up and contribute at one point or another. Going 12-0 in conference is not easy and I'm incredibly proud of this team and how they've gotten to this point. Annie and I keep telling them how much they keep improving week after week and I look forward to seeing that process continue."

Though it took four sets to beat RIT (18-15, 7-5) in the opening match of the weekend, the Knights for the most part had their way with the Tigers (25-15, 23-25, 25-11, 25-13). Clarkson very well could have earned a sweep, but up 23-19, the Knights couldn't put RIT away as the Tigers rallied to record the final six points of the set. From that point on, however, RIT couldn't muster 25 points total in the final two sets as Clarkson hit a combined 23-3-63 over the final frames. Both Sierra Rhoades (10-0-22) and Rachael Aird (10-0-17) had impressive matches, while Danielle Farabee (8-1-17) and Lauren Hutchinson (6-0-15) also hit for higher percentages. Aishvina Arasu also had nine kills in the match. Kirstie Shurie produced 33 assists, seven digs and three aces, while Jillian Saenz had four aces and Hutchinson also contributed three aces. For RIT, Sarah Szybist had 17 kills, Erin Parkinson had 30 assists and a pair of aces, and Rebecca Bennett had 15 digs and a pair of aces.

In the final match of the day with the top spot in the conference standings already secured, the Golden Knights took on second-place Union (25-5, 9-3) almost purely for bragging rights and came away with another four set victory (25-16, 25-18, 17-25, 25-11). The Dutchwomen played well in the first two sets, but couldn't get close to Clarkson down the stretch. Union did capitalize, however, in the third set, forcing Clarkson into hitting errors and making some big blocks to come away with an eight-point win. The Knights wouldn't let that momentum continue, though, as Clarkson came out and scored seven of the first eight points of the fourth set and cruised to a lopsided victory. Arasu recorded a double-double with 18 kills and 10 digs to go along with three aces, while Rhoades scored 13 kills and Aird tossed in 10 kills of her own. Shurie also had a double-double with 46 assists and 11 digs, matching the dig total of 11 from Lauren Hutchinson. Freshman libero Tara Stilwell also had 15 digs and four assists and classmate Savannah Peters scored three aces. For Union, Kelley White had 11 kills, Amanda Price had 24 assists and eight digs, and Kat Moeller tossed in 13 digs. Lauren Woods also had five kills and four total blocks.