For the third consecutive season, the Clarion University women’s volleyball team has earned an at-large berth in the NCAA Division II Playoffs.
The Golden Eagles (29-8) are the fourth seed from the Atlantic Region and will meet fifth seeded Lees-McRae (28-8) in the opening round at 5 p.m. Nov. 18 at Lock Haven. It marks the third straight year Clarion and Lees-McRae have met in the opening round of the NCAA Tournament with the Bobcats winning 3-2 in 2002 and 3-0 last season.
“It is a great honor to qualify for the NCAA Tournament for the third straight year,” Fluharty said. “I know the team worked hard to get where they are, and they deserve to have another shot at Regionals.
“I like the fact we are playing someone we didn’t play during the regular season,” Fluharty said. “We can’t over analyze the game. We will just have to go in with our heads up and play strong.”
Clarion is coming off a 3-0 loss to East Stroudsburg in the opening round of the PSAC Playoffs, while Lees-McRae won the Carolinas-Virginia Athletic Conference championship with a 3-2 win over Barton.
The Golden Eagles have won 22 of their last 25 matches but have lost two straight heading into the NCAA Tournament. Before losing to Edinboro 3-2 in the regular-season finale Nov. 6 Clarion had won nine straight.
“Sunday night the team and I had a really long talk about our loss (to East Stroudsburg) over the weekend and tied to come to some kind of conclusion as to why we lost,” Fluharty said. “To be honest, it was just a bad day for us. We didn’t play well. We weren’t as aggressive as we have been in the past. I don’t think we took them lightly, but East Stroudsburg did a great job of doing their homework, studying the tape and coming at us strong. They played with determination and made more plays then us at the right time. I don’t think it was anything specific. We tried hard to get everything to work on the same page and nothing happened for us.”
Because of the first-round playoff loss to East Stroudsburg and the loses in each of the past two seasons to Lees-McRae at the NCAA’s, Fluharty believes her team has a lot of motivation going into Thursday’s match.
“We are hoping to go to a playoff situation and win the first round,” Fluharty said. “We know we can do it. The team has to play with less pressure on themselves and just play naturally. We need to play this match just like all of the other matches. If we believe that going into the match then we will play much better.”
Seniors Sara Heyl and Colleen Sherk, junior Ashley Kreiner and Karen Stoklosa and freshman Ashley Gentile are key players for Clarion.
Heyl, an outside hitter, leads the team 511 kills (4.09 per game) while adding 481 digs and 68 blocks.
Sherk, a middle hitter, is second on the team in kills with 500 and leads the club in kills per game (4.13) and hitting percentage (.399) while adding 103 blocks.
Kreiner, a setter, set the single-season set assist record at Clarion this season and currently has 1,620 helpers. She is adding 127 kills, 288 digs and 77 blocks.
Stoklosa, a middle hitter, leads the Eagles with 189 blocks while adding 235 kills.
Gentile, the Libero, has set the single-season digs record at Clarion with 684 heading into the tournament.
Additional key contributors for Clarion include senior outside hitter Tonya Zatko (157 kills), junior defensive specialist Heather Byrne (355 digs), sophomore defensive specialist Jenn Sacco (361 digs) and freshmen outside hitter Sarah Fries (157 kills) and Christian Steiner (156 kills).
Through 34 matches, Lacie Smith leads Lees-McRae with 511 kills and 483 digs, while Bridget Thornton is adding 392 kills and 459 digs. Amanda Huffaker contributes 289 kills and 128 blocks, and Tatiana Moore has 241 kills, 363 digs and 77 blocks.
Lenka Jamrichova sets up the Bobcat offense with 1,419 set assists while adding 390 digs.
The winner of the Clarion-Lees-McRae match will meet the winner of the Lock Haven-North Carolina Central match in the second round. Lock Haven, the top seed and tournament host, is 25-3, while North Carolina Central, the No. 8 seed, is 24-13.
TOURNAMENT NOTES: The other four teams in the Atlantic Region bracket include No. 2 seed California (26-6), No. 3 seed IUP (26-10), No. 6 seed Mount Olive (24-12) and No. 7 seed St. Andrews (16-12). IUP plays Mount Olive and Cal faces St. Andrews.
GOLDEN EAGLE NOTES: Clarion has faced four of the eight teams in that make up the Atlantic Region bracket this season going 2-1 vs. IUP, 2-0 vs. Cal, 1-0 vs. Mt. Olive and 0-2 vs. Lock Haven … Overall Clarion has faced six teams who are in the NCAA D-II Tournament including New York tech and Ashland. The Golden Eagles went a combined 5-5 in 10 matches against NCAA qualifiers … Clarion finished 6-4 in the PSAC-West and in second place … The PSAC Playoff berth was Clarion’s first outright PSAC Playoff spot since 1990 … Clarion’s NCAA Playoff appearance in 2002 was the first NCAA appearance for the Golden Eagle netters … Prior to 2002, Clarion appeared in a national volleyball tournament once before when the 1977 team coached by Pat Ferguson finished sixth at the EAIAW Regionals held in Binghamton, N.Y. That team finished 14-5 … Clarion’s 29 wins this season are the second most in school history behind only the 31 put up by the 2002 squad (31-5) … Fluharty has an incredible 109-38 (74.1 percent) record in four years at Clarion including 86-22 (79.6 percent) in the last three seasons.