CLARION HITS 20 WINS FOR SCHOOL RECORD 5TH STRAIGHT SEASON
For a school-record fifth consecutive season, the Clarion University women’s volleyball team has reached the 20-win plateau.
The Golden Eagles (20-7 through Oct. 10) achieved the 20-win mark with a 3-0 win over Cheyney in PSAC Crossover play Saturday, Oct. 8. The previous school record for consecutive 20-win season was four set from 1987-1990 and matched last year.
“This is a great achievement,” Clarion’s fifth-year head coach Tracey Fluharty said. “It has been a team effort the last five years. The players who have been part of the teams the last five years have all worked very hard to put us at this level. Every one of them has been a part of our success.”
The current 20-win season streak started in 2001 when the Golden Eagles finished 23-16. Clarion followed that up with a 31-5 mark in 2002, 26-10 in 2003 and 29-9 last year. The Golden Eagles have qualifies for the NCAA Division II playoff three straight years finishing the season ranked No. 3 in the NCAA D-II Atlantic Region in 2002 and fourth in the Atlantic Region in both 2003 and 2004.
This year’s Clarion team is 20-7 despite losing three key players from last year’s PSAC and NCAA playoff squad.
“I believe this team has continued to work harder every day in practice to be where we are right now,” Fluharty said. “We knew during the preseason that we would have some challenges ahead of us with a tough PSAC-West and a young team. But we also knew that if we continued to work hard that would help us in the long run. We are truly determined to become stronger with every match.”
The Golden Eagles are led by senior setter Ashley Kreiner (London, Ohio - 1,014 set assists, 254 digs, 101 kills), senior middle hitter Karen Stoklosa (Hamburg, NY - 173 kills, 118 blocks), sophomore outside hitters Christina Steiner (Florence, KY - 257 kills, 224 digs) and Sarah Fries (Willard, OH - 259 kills) and sophomore Libero Vicky Gentile (Euclid, Ohio - 484 digs).
Kreiner ranks fifth all-time (through Oct. 10) at Clarion in both set assists (2,702) and digs (1,349), while Stoklosa is fourth in blocks (490) and Gentile ninth in digs (1,195). Senior outside hitter/defensive specialist Heather Bryne (Van Wert, Ohio - 119 kills, 294 digs in ’05) is 14th in school history with 894 digs.
Additional key players this season include junior defensive specialist Jenn Sacco (Cochranton - 298 digs), junior middle hitter Lindsay Banner (Clarion - 149 kills, 67 blocks), sophomore outside hitter Lauren Wiefling (Butler - 121 kills), sophomore defensive specialist/setter Kristi Fiorillo (Meadville - 148 digs, 56 assists) and freshman middle hitter Amy Gottuso (Baden - 32 kills, 26 blocks).
GOLDEN EAGLE NOTES – Clarion, which is 1-4 in the PSAC-West, returns to action Tuesday when it is at Slippery Rock… Fluharty is 129-47 (73.3 percent) in five years at Clarion and 228-103 (73.3 percent) in nine years as a collegiate coach… During the 4-year stretch of 20-win season in the late 1980’s Clarion was a combined 99-52... Overall, Clarion has 14 20-win seasons since 1983 going 461-356 (56.4 percent) during the stretch, which includes games this year through Oct. 10.
Sr. Setter - Ashley Kreiner
Sr. MH - Karen Stoklosa
Sr. OH/DS - Heather Bryne