Schenectady, NY - Swinging at a .436 clip through two matches Friday evening, freshman Adrienne Walker (Centennial, CO) struck for 19 kills to lift the Clarkson University Volleyball team to a pair of victories over Union College and RIT for its first-ever Liberty League regular season championship.

Victories over Union (25-16, 25-8, 25-18) and RIT (23-25, 25-9, 25-22, 25-15) pushed the Golden Knights to 25-3 overall on the season and 10-1 in conference matches. Clarkson closes out the conference schedule tomorrow afternoon against Skidmore College, which is vying for seeding position in the Liberty League tournament as well. The Knights will host the four-team single-elimination tournament on November 4th and 5th.

"It feels incredibly rewarding to win the regular season championship," head coach Johan Dulfer remarked. "This team has worked so hard at learning how to battle. It's no stretch to say that this is probably the most selfless team I've ever coached and it's so much fun to see them go out there together and battle every night. Given how strong everyone is in our league, it is a testament to how much they wanted it that we are where we are right now. I was particularly proud of how our serving game took over the match at such important moments. Every time we needed a push or some energy, our servers really stepped up. We obviously feel great about today and look forward to battling together again tomorrow."

In the first match of the day, Clarkson avenged its only conference loss of the season with a dominating effort against Union. Adrienne Walker hit .529 (10-1-17) to lead an overall attack that hit .302. Classmate Becca Brabec (Lemont, IL) led the team with 13 kills and added a pair of aces, while senior Sara Artus (St. Regis Falls, NY) came through with 11 kills. Junior Bailey Walker (Centennial, CO) also had 8 kills against just a single error in 17 swings. Sophomore setter Lani Durio (Austin, TX) distributed the ball well with 34 assists, and classmate Erika Chin (Katy, TX) was instrumental on defense with 14 digs as well as a pair of aces.

Against RIT, the Knights dropped the first set, but then won two of the final three sets decisively, making only six attack errors in the final 121 points. Brabec led the team with 13 kills and also had 5 aces and Artus had 11 kills. Chin had 20 digs and also had 5 aces to help lead a deadly serving run. Senior Megan Mahon (Irvine, CA) also contributed 4 of Clarkson's 16 aces. Durio had 39 assists.