Potsdam, NY - With a strong effort late in the fourth set, the Clarkson University Volleyball team was able to gain its second win over a sprightly SUNY Canton squad, beating the Kangaroos 3-1 in the opening round of the Golden Knights Invitational Friday night at Alumni Gymnasium.

The Golden Knights improved to 23-3 on the season, their third straight win and 19th in the last 20 matches, while SUNY Canton fell to 16-5. Clarkson will celebrate Senior Day tomorrow afternoon when the team faces Utica College at 12:00 noon and then Plattsburgh State at 4:00 pm.

After a lopsided first set in which Clarkson was in total control throughout, the Kangaroos tightened up their defense and gave the 16th-ranked Golden Knights a solid run in the final three sets. The momentum began in the waning moments of the second set as SUNY Canton turned a six-point deficit at set point into a three-point drop before finally falling down two sets. However, Canton used that confidence against Clarkson with 15 kills in the third set, getting some lucky bounces along the way and taking advantage of some poorly timed miscues by the Knights. But Clarkson proved to be too much against Canton for the second time this season, gaining a small advantage in the fourth set. The Kangaroos rallied to tie the score several times in the late going, including at 21-21, but the Knights won four of the final five points with Kirstie Shurie (LaCanada, CA) and Aishvina Arasu (Brea, CA) serving to close out the match.

Adrienne Walker (Centennial, CO) led three Clarkson hitters in double-digit kills, striking for 11 with no errors in 30 swings. Aishvina Arasu and Rachael Aird (East Syracuse, NY) each delivered 10 kills and Victoria Kirkemo (Englewood, CO) tossed in nine kills with a match-high 22 digs and six more aces. The six additional aces pushed Kirkemo into third-place all-time at Clarkson, and she ranks in the top 10 among all active players in Division III in that category. Kirstie Shurie returned from injury to produce 44 assists and 14 digs, while freshman Evanne Jimenez (Ventura, CA) tossed in 20 more digs.

For Canton, Caitlin Grimshaw had a match-high 12 kills to go along with 10 digs and three blocks, and Kelsey Cornish added in 10 more kills. Mackenzie Mynter ran the offense with 38 assists and also added nine digs.