Georgetown, TX - Holding nothing against the competition in New York, the Clarkson University Volleyball team decided to truly challenge itself on the final weekend of the regular season. Playing against a pair of teams that have already reached the 20-win mark in 2011, the Golden Knights dropped a four-game decision to Austin College and then fell to seventh-ranked Southwestern University in three straight Friday afternoon.

The Knights moved to 26-6 on the season and will face Trinity (TX) and University of Texas-Dallas, two of the top teams in the South Region.

Against Austin College, the Knights fell in four with the final three sets being very close. Clarkson lost the second set by two points and won the third, but fell in the fourth by five points. Senior Sara Artus (St. Regis Falls, NY) showed Texas what she is about with 21 kills, 11 digs, and 3 blocks, while classmate Megan Mahon (Irvine, CA) enjoyed one of her better matches of the season with 13 kills, 2 aces, and a block. Sophomore Lani Durio (Austin, TX) had an impressive homecoming with 49 assists, one of her better totals of the campaign. Classmate Erika Chin (Katy, TX), also playing close to home, led the team with 17 digs.

"Our mission for this weekend is to learn the most we can from playing great teams with a different style than what we normally see." head coach Johan Dulfer said. "I thought Austin College, our first opponent of the day, was a good team. The good news is that we had opportunities to win that match; the disappointing fact is that we just didn't execute those opportunities. We need to learn to be hungrier for it."

Ranked seventh in the country, Southwestern, the host of the tournament, proved to be a tough team to battle as Clarkson had trouble putting a lot of balls away. Freshman Becca Brabec (Lemont, IL) led the team with nine kills, but also had six errors. Classmate Adrienne Walker (Centennial, CO) and Artus each had seven kills. Durio tossed in 27 assists and Chin led the team with 16 digs. Artus and Brabec also added in 12 and 10 digs, respectively.

"Southwestern, clearly, is an extraordinarily good team," Dulfer said. "They have learned to play such good defense, that you have to work that much harder to score against them. Our hitting percentage reflected the fact that you almost have to score your points twice before they count. Nevertheless, I thought we played at a much higher level than earlier in the day - swinging agressively and with purpose, and passing well almost the entire match. We are working on limiting our errors to aggressive ones only, and staying staying in the moment. I thought the Southwestern match was a great step in the right direction for us."