Hoboken, NJ – In what may prove to be the match that determines the top ranked team in the New York Region, the Clarkson University Volleyball team recovered from an early set back to claim a four-set win over the Stevens Institute of Technology (22-25, 25-15, 25-21, 25-18) at the New York Regional Challenge. The Knights also picked up a three-set sweep of Elmira College (25-12, 25-16, 25-8) earlier in the day.

The Golden Knights, ranked 15th in the country in the latest AVCA poll, won their 11th straight match to improve to 31-3 on the season. Elmira dropped to 7-20, while Stevens saw its record move to 28-5. Clarkson will take on New York University and Kean University Saturday afternoon with hopes of setting a new team record for regular-season victories.

The Golden Knights blasted a total of 28 kills against only two errors in 61 swings (.426 hitting percentage) against Elmira, a per-set total far below the team's average this season. However, the kills were lower than usual because the Knights were able to record 16 aces in the three-set run (more than 20 percent of the team's points, and about twice their season average). Victoria Kirkemo (Englewood, CO) produced seven aces from the service line, pushing her season total to 91, just five short of her own single-season Clarkson record set last year. However, the Knights also had some gaudy hitting percentages as Aishvina Arasu (Brea, CA) recorded 12 kills with no errors in 19 swings (.632) and Adrienne Walker (Centennial, CO) added nine kills with no errors in 16 swings (.562). Kirstie Shurie (LaCanada, CA) produced 27 assists and a pair of aces, while Kirkemo and Evanne Jimenez (Ventura, CA) led the way defensively with eight digs and seven digs, respectively.

The match against Elmira was just a warm up for the featured pairing of the tournament against host Stevens. Unfortunately, the Golden Knights didn't bring the same offense to its second match in the opening set. The Knights made five hitting errors and seven service errors to a team that didn't need that kind of help, and lost the opener (25-22), only the third time this season that Clarkson lost the first set of a match and only the third set that it had lost to a New York Region team in 2014. In the second set, the two teams traded points in the early going, but a strong serving run from Victoria Kirkemo was coupled with several kills by Adrienne Walker and the Knights jumped out to an eight-point advantage (11-3). Though the Ducks would close to within four points, Clarkson rediscovered its offensive flow and ran away with a second-set win (25-15).

In the third set, Stevens raced out to an 8-2 advantage, forcing the Knights to take a timeout, but the break proved helpful as Clarkson scored eight of the next 11 points. Clarkson tied the score at 12-12 and was able to take the lead on the next point. From that point on, the game evened out with neither team able to make a significant run. Up by two late, Kirstie Shurie snuck an ace in on the end line to put Clarkson up 24-21, and a touch on the final attack that otherwise might have gone out gave the Knights a come-from-behind victory in set number three (25-21). Set number four had Clarkson trailing again midway through the frame, but the Knights recorded five straight points to take a 15-14 lead and forced the Ducks to take a timeout. Down the stretch, Clarkson began to pull away with a pair of kills from Kirkemo and a pair of aces from Evanne Jimenez, giving the Knights a 21-15 lead, which proved to be enough of a cushion (25-18).

Arasu produced a double-double with 21 kills and 10 digs, hitting .450 in the match. Walker hit .550 with 13 kills and only a pair of errors in 20 attempts and Kirkemo finished with 12 kills and six more aces, setting a single-season Clarkson mark in the process (97). Shurie averaged better than 11 assists per set, producing 45 total, and Jimenez contributed 10 digs and four aces.