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Knights spikers advance to NCAA NY Regionals with four-set win over Nazareth

Posted 11/12/11

Potsdam, NY – Freshmen Becca Brabec (Lemont, IL) and Adrienne Walker (Centennial, CO) each posted one of their best matches of the season when the Clarkson University Volleyball team needed them …

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Knights spikers advance to NCAA NY Regionals with four-set win over Nazareth

Posted

Potsdam, NY – Freshmen Becca Brabec (Lemont, IL) and Adrienne Walker (Centennial, CO) each posted one of their best matches of the season when the Clarkson University Volleyball team needed them most, as the Golden Knights defeated Nazareth College in four sets, 25-13, 20-25, 25-13, 25-22, in the opening round of the NCAA New York Regional Friday night at Alumni Gymnasium.

The Golden Knights moved to 29-8 overall, tying the single-season school mark for victories in the process, and will play regional top-seed Cortland at 6:00 pm on Saturday afternoon, again at Alumni Gymnasium. Nazareth, the champion of the Empire 8, finished its season at 26-13.

A feeling-out period began the first set as the two teams were tied 7-7 in the early going, but a strong stretch of serving from Adrienne Walker forced Nazareth into a timeout to catch its collective breath. The break helped a little, as the Golden Flyers got back into the match, but Clarkson scored 11 of the final 12 points of the match to take an easy victory, thanks to a .480 hitting percentage (14 kills-2 errors-25 swings).

Too many attack errors swung the second set into Nazareth’s favor. Clarkson had 12 kills, but also had 12 errors, hitting the ball long and wide and also into the Golden Flyers’ block, where they earned three more denials up front. Despite the errors, Clarkson looked ready to close out the second set, but Nazareth scored the final eight points after trailing by three, to take it 25-20.

Nazareth’s run ended in the third set, as Clarkson jumped out to a 12-5 advantage after back-to-back aces from Adrienne Walker, pushing Golden Flyers coach Cal Wickens to take a timeout. The break didn’t change the pace, as Walker came through with another ace immediately following the timeout, and Clarkson cruised to a 25-13 victory in set number three.

The fourth set saw Clarkson enjoy small advantages in the early going, but the Golden Flyers would not go away and kept pace with the Knights until near the end of the match. Clarkson led by four points, 22-18, late, but Nazareth crawled back to within striking distance in the waning points before the Golden Knights finally close them out 25-22.

"Obviously it feels great to advance in the NCAAs," said Clarkson head coach Johan Dulfer. "I thought we came out with a lot of energy tonight and we maintained it throughout the match. It was a real team effort. I thought the difference in the match was our serving and our aggressiveness in general. This is a very proud day for Clarkson Volleyball.

Brabec finished with a match-high 15 kills and had only four errors in 31 swings to lead Clarkson, while Walker posted eight kills, but also had eight errors, in 23 swings. However, Walker was huge on the serving line and at the net, producing four aces and six total blocks, including four solo denials. Senior Sara Artus (St. Regis Falls, NY) added in 11 kills and was just one dig shy of a double-double with nine. Sophomore setter Lani Durio (Austin, TX) ran the offense with 37 assists, and Erika Chin (Katy, TX) came through with 19 digs to go along with her four service aces.

Nazareth had a balanced offensive attack, which was led by Chelsea Beacher with nine kills and 10 digs. Amy Johnson added in eight kills, and also had five block assists. Overall, Nazareth had 16 blocks, all of them as assists, to keep the Clarkson offense honest up front. Aubrey Cooke came through with 27 assists and Brittany Crocetti led the team defensively with 13 digs.