Potsdam, NY - After two dominating set victories, the Clarkson University Volleyball team struggled to close out the match against its crosstown rival, Potsdam. However, after making a valiant effort to force extra time, the Golden Knights cruised in the fourth set to claim a 25-19, 25-13, 24-26, 25-11 victory Tuesday evening at Alumni Gymnasium.

Clarkson improved to 26-4 overall this season and will travel to Texas for a four-game non-region tournament against some of the best the south has to offer in Division III. Potsdam failed to win its 20th match of the season, instead falling to 19-15 overall.

In the first two sets, Clarkson didn't necessarily produce wide-margin victories through outstanding hitting, but the team didn't make many errors. In the third set, the Knights struggled to make accurate passes and also couldn't handle Potsdam's serve in the early going, finding themselves in a big hole.

"This match showed why we have such respect for the Potsdam volleyball program," head coach Johan Dulfer said. "I thought Potsdam played very hard with a lot of energy and they are obviously much improved from the beginning of the year. I think there are lessons in every match and tonight's lesson for us was learning to not give up regardless of the score and to fight no matter what it says on the scoreboard. Once we were down in the third set by such a wide margin I thought something clicked. We had several people step up and draw a line in the sand. I'm very proud of how we closed out the match."

After trailing by eight points through the early portions of the third set, Clarkson roared back to tie the score in the early 20s before forcing extra points. Potsdam was able to take the final three points of the set for the victory, but the stage was set for an impressive display by the Knights. The fourth set started with Clarkson enjoying a sizeable advantage (8-2) in the early going, and the team never looked back in closing out the match by double figures.

Sara Artus (St. Regis Falls, NY) had 12 kills to lead Clarkson's offense, while freshman Adrienne Walker (Centennial, CO) added 10 kills. Sophomore Lani Durio (Austin, TX) produced 38 assists while Becca Brabec (Lemont, IL) led the defense with 13 digs. Brabec also came through with three aces, as did Erika Chin (Katy, TX) and Megan Mahon (Irvine, CA), accounting for nine of Clarkson's 12 service aces.