Potsdam, NY – A late change of venue didn't alter the results for the Clarkson University Volleyball team as the Golden Knights pushed their winning streak to 16 with a four-set victory over Union and a three-set sweep of Bard on Saturday afternoon on the campus of SUNY Canton.

A leak in the roof at Burkman Gymnasium took out one court, causing the Golden Knights to take on the Dutchwomen and Raptors a few miles away at the Roos House. Clarkson, ranked 12th in the latest AVCA poll, beat Union 25-23, 25-15, 14-25, 25-22 before ousting Bard in three sets 25-16, 25-12, 25-13. The win pushed Clarkson to 20-2 overall and 8-0 in the Liberty League. The Knights win against Bard also pushed their winning streak against New York Region teams to 50 straight, dating back to October 2012.

"This weekend presented some challenges for us in terms of our system," head coach Johan Dulfer said. "We had to learn to be uncomfortable and battle adversity. I'm very proud we were able to pull out four wins under those circumstances. At a time when it would've been easy to hide behind excuses, we chose instead to try to learn and get better. I'm very proud of our effort, but we need to be even better in the weeks ahead in both energy level and work ethic in order to get to where we want to go. Talent alone doesn't win championships; it's all the other little things that go along with it. Hopefully this weekend showed us a little bit of what we will need down the road in order to challenge for a championship. The process isn't easy. I look forward to having a week in the gym to work on being even better next weekend."

The Golden Knights faced a challenge on Saturday afternoon when they opened up the day against Union, though Clarkson took the first two sets of the match, the first set was a back-and-forth affair. The Knights escaped with a two-point win thanks to a kill from Rachael Aird (East Syracuse, NY) and a solo block by Lauren Hutchinson (Spring, TX). The second set wasn't as close, though Union held a 9-5 lead before the Knights enjoyed a run of 10 straight points, most coming with Sierra Rhoades (Poway, CA) operating from the service line.

In the third set, looking for a sweep, Clarkson struggled to pass the ball effectively and couldn't get many good swings against the Dutchwomen, but the Knights didn't let that lackluster performance change their approach in the fourth set. The Dutchwomen led 6-5 when Victoria Kirkemo (Englewood, C) delivered a kill to tie the score, and the Knights never looked back. Clarkson pushed its advantage to as many as six points and had a 24-18 edge before letting Union climb back into the set with four straight points. However, it was too much to ask for the Dutchwomen to make such a run, and Clarkson finished the match in four sets.

Kirkemo struck for 18 kills in the match and also delivered seven aces, surpassing 200 for her career. Aishvina Arasu (Brea, CA) had nine kills and Rachael Aird had seven more kills. Hutchinson produced 34 assists and had four total blocks. Clarkson had 13 service aces in the match, with Rhoades and Hannah Jones (Lake Arrowhead, CA) each adding two to Kirkemo's run of seven.

Though Bard is much improved, the Golden Knights were still able to keep the Raptors below 20 points in each of the three sets thanks to some solid serving. Overall, the Knights had 13 aces, including six more from Victoria Kirkemo. The junior outside hitter also added 11 kills in the match, while Rachael Aird and Katrina Lane (Seattle, WA) each scored eight kills. Lauren Hutchinson averaged better than 12 assists per set and totaled 37 in the match to go along with a pair of aces, while Evanne Jimenez (Ventura, CA) had a team-high 10 digs.