Top 10 Clarkson Highlights - #2 Clarkson Volleyball Rallies For Fifth Straight Conference Title

The Top 10 Clarkson University Athletic Department Highlights of 2016-17 were carefully selected by the Clarkson Sports Information Staff. Top 10 Clarkson highlights will be posted on Mondays throughout the summer.

Different year. Different coach. Different roster. Same result.

Following the exodus of five program-altering seniors and its entire coaching staff, the Clarkson University Volleyball program had some decidedly large shoes to fill in 2016. Only three players on the entire roster possessed more than a year of volleyball experience for the Golden Knights coming into the season, but by November every player on the squad accomplished something the previous four teams had as well when they won the Liberty League Championship.

The road to the conference title wasn't as smooth for the Golden Knights in head coach Carol LaMarche's first season. Though she was familiar with Clarkson University and its volleyball landscape, having coached the Knights back in 2005 before leaving for an assistant's position at Syracuse University, the current roster was all in elementary school at that time, so familiarity had its limitations. A robust schedule that included four top 10 teams and more than two-thirds of the opponents ranked regionally at some point in 2016 also made the trek a bit more dubious, especially when considering the overall youth of the roster. When the regular season ended with six consecutive losses, including four that went the five-set distance, the Knights found themselves in an unaccustomed, yet still enviable to many other teams, position: in only a tie for first place in the league standings.

Since they were swept by Vassar during the regular season, the Golden Knights had to travel to play for the league title for the first time in four years following three straight seasons of hosting the conference tournament. But once the team arrived in Poughkeepsie, Clarkson flipped the switch and again left no doubt who the class of the conference was. The Knights had suffered a five-set defeat against Union College only two weeks before, but won in three straight sets in the Liberty League semifinal match against the Dutchwomen, dominating the stat sheet in every category. That set up a match versus top-seeded Vassar. The Brewers had every expectation of ending Clarkson's four-year run at the top of the Liberty League with a raucous crowd and home court advantage, and though the match had its moments of contentiousness, the Knights were poised to maintain their conference title streak. Experience turned out to be the key, as senior Katrina Lane crushed 20 kills in the four-set win, and junior Rachael Aird produced 15 more kills en route to Most Outstanding Player honors for the tournament.

Less than a week later, Clarkson continued to exact revenge against recent foes, defeating Susquehanna in three straight sets in the NCAA Tournament before finally seeing its season end against fifth-ranked Emory. It marked the eighth consecutive year that Clarkson reached the NCAA Tournament and the seventh straight season that the Knights would win at least one match in the NCAA Regionals. More than anything, Clarkson's run in the postseason proved that despite different faces, it was still the same program with which to be reckoned in the New York Region.

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Players Mentioned

#10 Rachael Aird: OH/MH/RS; 6' 0"; Junior

#14 Katrina Lane: RS/OH; 5' 10"; Senior

Players Mentioned

#10 Rachael Aird
: 6' 0"; Junior
: OH/MH/RS

#14 Katrina Lane
: 5' 10"; Senior
: RS/OH

Scoreboard

Players Mentioned

#10 Rachael Aird

#14 Katrina Lane

Players Mentioned

#10 Rachael Aird

#14 Katrina Lane