Glenside, PA – Despite a 22-kill deficit, the Clarkson University Volleyball team found a way to survive against Arcadia, gaining a five-set win 23-25, 25-22, 14-25, 25-22, 15-9 on Friday evening.

The Golden Knights improved to 10-8 overall and the team will be back in action on Saturday against Washington College and Franklin & Marshall. Arcadia fell to 17-6.

In the first set, Arcadia scored 14 kills and Clarkson recorded just five, but the Knights were able to rally late thanks to some miscues by the host Knights. The game was separated by just a point on three occasions as the two teams neared the midway point thanks to block assists from Ivy Martin, Maddie Bredehoeft and a pair from Gillian Kurtic, but kills by Lizzie Joseph began a rally by Arcadia that put the margin on 17-11. Down by seven nine points later (22-15), Clarkson rode a streak of errors to get back into the set. Clarkson trailed by just three (23-20) thanks to the mistakes by Arcadia, then scored three straight with a kill from Meghan Edmund and an ace and kill from Maddie Bredehoeft. However, a timeout stopped the run as Arcadia scored the final two points to take the set 25-23.

The second set saw Clarkson take small leads in the early going, leading by as many as three (9-6) when Gillian Kurtic recorded a kill. However, Arcadia responded and tied the set up, and the two teams would battle back and forth throughout the teens, before the Golden Knights finally pushed their advantage back to three (20-17) on a kill from Ivy Martin. Arcadia would recover to within one only to see two attack errors foil its attempt at a comeback. Rachel Reusch picked up a key kill for the Golden Knights and a service error by Arcadia ended the set at 25-22 in favor of Clarkson.

After dropping a lopsided third set by double digits, the Golden Knights fell behind by five near the midway point of set number four and appeared on their way to defeat (13-8). However, Clarkson found a way to get back into the set, riding a strong run of offense from Kendall Cheval, Savannah Peters and Maddie Bredehoeft to tie the set at 14-14. The match was still tied 14 points later at 21-21, but Clarkson got a kill from Reusch to take the lead. Back-to-back errors kept the margin at one (23-22), yet Reusch was there again for the Knights with a solo block and the set ended on a kill from Bredehoeft.

In the fifth, Clarkson never trailed and the match was only tied once (1-1). However, the Golden Knights advantage was often in doubt as Arcadia kept things close. Clarkson doubled up Arcadia (10-5), but three straight points by the home team drew the margin back to just two. At 11-9, Gillian Kurtic scored a kill and back-to-back points came up Clarkson's way thanks to block assists involving Reusch, Peters, and Cheval. Savannah Peters then finished off the set and the match with a kill for a 15-9 victory.

Reusch finished with 12 kills, four blocks and a pair of aces to lead the Knights' offense. Haley Aud found her teammates for 22 assists and Amanda Collins added 10 assists and two aces. Kate Isaksen contributed 36 digs and two more aces, while Maddie Bredehoeft (14 digs), Kendall Cheval (13 digs) and Meghan Edmund (12 digs) also produced in the back row.

For Arcadia, Shannon Ryan led the offense with 21 kills and Lizzie Joseph added 19 kills and three blocks. Julia Paliwodzinski had 50 assists and 13 digs while Emily Eng produced 26 digs.