Ithaca, NY – Senior Rachael Aird and sophomore Rachel Reusch combined for 30 kills and 12 blocks as the Clarkson University Volleyball team came from behind to win a five-set thriller over Ithaca College in the Liberty League Championship game, giving the Golden Knights their sixth straight conference title and ninth straight NCAA Tournament appearance.

The Golden Knights trailed 1-0 and 2-1 in sets before winning the final two to gain a 17-25, 25-18, 20-25, 25-18, 15-9 victory. Clarkson improves to 21-7 overall while the Bombers fell to 21-8.

After exchanging points through the first 10 serves, Ithaca scored seven of the next nine to take a five-point lead. Though Clarkson would trim the deficit to three points, two more Ithaca scores made it 17-12 and the Knights took a timeout. Rachael Aird then delivered on her first swing of the match, but Ithaca again scored three of the next four to make the score 20-14 and push the Knights to another timeout. Again Aird delivered off the break, but it wasn't enough as Ithaca scored five of the final seven to take the first set 25-17.

Any thoughts of an easy sweep by the Bombers were quickly extinguished by Clarkson as the Knights came out with the first four points and extended their lead to five on a Kate Isaksen ace, making it 9-4. Clarkson pushed its lead to as many as seven midway through the set, but Ithaca climbed back into the set on a Reagan Stone kill, making it 14-10. The Bombers pulled to within three on two occasions, including a 19-16 deficit, but Rachel Reusch scored a kill and an ace on back-to-back points to push the Knights back up by five, and Clarkson would conclude the set with a seven-point win, 25-18. Though Ithaca had 15 kills in the set, Clarkson was more impressive on offense with 15 kills and just a single error on 36 attempts (.389 hitting percentage).

The first two sets may have been lopsided in their final scores, but the third more than made up for any deficiency in drama. The two teams were tied 12 times all the way up to 14-14, and though each team made small runs in the next six points, it was again tied up at 17-17. From there, Ithaca scored a kill and two straight aces to make it 20-17, but the key point came after an error pulled the Knights back within two. A close call on an attempted block by the Knights fell just outside the line on the left side, and instead of Clarkson being within one they were down by three. That point appeared to give Ithaca a lift, as the Bombers finished off the set on a 4-2 run, capped by a kill from Reagan Stone.

Set four again teetered in both directions as the teams were tied seven times all the way up through 8-8. Ithaca then scored three straight for an 11-8 advantage, but the Knights took four of the next five to tie the score again 12-12 thanks to two Bomber miscues. Again the two teams exchanged points, but after a tie at 15-15, Clarkson rattled off three straight with Ithaca errors sandwiching a Kate Isaksen ace, causing Ithaca to take a timeout. Though the Bombers would threaten, coming within two on a pair of occasions, Clarkson would force the fifth set thanks to five straight points, ending on an ace from Rachel Reusch.

Clarkson used its momentum from the end of the fourth set to catapult itself in front early in set number five. Two blocks and an ace gave Clarkson a 3-1 advantage and two more kills from Aird made it 5-2, causing Ithaca to take a timeout. After that break, the rest of the set belonged to Rachel Reusch. The sophomore hitter scored three straight kills and then coupled with Savannah Peters on two straight block assists to make it 11-5. An error by the Bombers pushed the score to 12-5, but Ithaca recovered with three straight points to give the Clarkson bench pause and use a timeout. The break didn't slow down Reusch, who delivered another kill to make it 13-8. Ithaca responded with a kill of its own, but the ensuing serve was an error for the Bombers, setting up Rachael Aird on the next point as she delivered her 15th kill to end the set and the match.

Aird was chosen as the Liberty League Tournament's Most Outstanding Player and she delivered in a big way during the championship match, scoring 15 kills with no errors on 27 attempts to go along with a solo block and five block assists. Rachel Reusch would have been a fine choice as well, scoring 15 kills with three errors in 31 swings as well as six block assists. Kendall Cheval and Maddie Bredehoeft added eight kills and seven kills, respectively, while Jillian Saenz ran the offense with 39 assists and 11 digs. Kate Isaksen also recorded 22 digs and Savannah Peters added to the block party with five block assists. Reusch and Saenz joined Aird on the Liberty League All-Tournament team for the Knights.

For Ithaca, five different players reached double figures in kills, led by Joelle Goldstein's 15. Caroline Gerulskis (12 kills), Regan Stone (12 kills), Amanda Cerruti (12 kills) and Katie Evans (10 kills) also had double figures. Caitlyn Floyd had a double-double with 47 assists and 12 digs while Tara Stilwell contributed 20 digs and three aces.