Canton, NY – Despite being on the road in front of a hostile crowd, the Clarkson University Volleyball team took care of business for the third straight time against St. Lawrence, bettering its Liberty League portfolio in a four-set victory 21-25, 25-19, 25-18, 25-23 at Burkman Gymnasium.
The Golden Knights improved to 12-2 on the season, still their second-best start in school history. St. Lawrence dropped to 13-3, with all three defeats coming against the Knights.
In the first game, the Saints used the energy of their home crowd to propel them to a quick lead, edging out to advantages of as many as five points. The Knights crawled back to within two points at 21-19, but St. Lawrence scored the four of the final six points to take the game 25-21.
In the following two sets, Clarkson jumped out to significant leads, taking at least nine-point leads in each thanks to some solid serving from sophomore Megan Mahon (Irvine, CA), who scored three straight service aces in the second set. Sophomore Sara Artus (St. Regis Falls, NY) recorded four kills in each of the set victories for Clarkson, which the team won 25-19 and 25-18 after late rallies by the Saints.
Set four saw the Knights make several errors that cost them points at key points, both on attack and on serves. However, Clarkson didn’t fold and wait to take its chances in a deciding fifth game, instead coming back to tie the score 18-18 after trailing by five just a few moments before. Some big kills by Artus gave the Knights a two-point lead at 24-22, but St. Lawrence came back with a kill from its middle to bring the lead down to one. Artus again came back with a kill to end the match for the Knights.
“I thought this was the most intense match up we’ve had against St. Lawrence this season,” said head coach Johan Dulfer. “We were rattled a little bit with their crowd in set one, but I thought we recovered nicely and the volleyball I saw in set two and three I think was better than Clarkson and St. Lawrence have played in a long, long time. I couldn’t help but think tonight how far we’ve come along as a program in athleticism, ability, and now maturity. St. Lawrence is a very good team and they are well coached. To get this win tonight in their gym is a very rewarding end to a turbulent week for us. I’m very proud of the team.
Clarkson’s defense came up big again as five different players recorded double-digit digs, led by Artus’ 21 digs. Artus also led the offense with 16 kills, while Mahon finished with 12 kills. Senior MacKenzie Cook (Syracuse, NY) added in nine kills and three blocks and classmate Jenna Stock (Johnstown, NY) finished with 38 assists to go along with 13 digs. Amanda Rankin (Horseheads, NY) contributed 18 digs and Alison Schroeder (Webster, NY) and Davanna Chetney (Fulton, NY) each had 17 digs.
With her final two assists in the fourth set, Jenna Stock also became Clarkson's all-time leader in that category, recording her 444th of the season and the 2,871st of her career to close out the match. She surpassed Suzanne Clarvoe's mark of 2,869, set back in 2005. Most impressively, Stock shared the setting duties with Rankin for each of the past two seasons before becoming the team's only pure setter in 2009.
