CALIFORNIA (Nov. 12) – The California University of Pennsylvania volleyball team closed the regular season on Saturday evening with a 3-0 win (25-20, 25-20, 25-20) over Clarion on Senior Day at the Convocation Center in Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference (PSAC) Southwest play.

With the victory, the Vulcans improve to 21-8 overall behind a 13-5 mark in league action. Cal U earned an automatic qualifier to the league tournament last night by winning the PSAC Southwest Division and earned the fourth-overall seed for the league tournament. Meanwhile, the Golden Eagles fall to 16-14 this season with a 10-8 record in conference play.

Sophomore Lois van Schaik (Naarden, Netherlands/St. Vituscollege) finished with a team-high 14 kills behind a .464 hitting percentage. Senior Danielle Hayes (Erie, Pa./McDowell) and junior Ashley Leto (Pittsburgh, Pa./North Allegheny) posted 12 and 10 kills, respectively. Sophomore Tina Bellhy (McDonald, Pa./Fort Cherry) added eight kills in the win. Senior Megan Litoborski (Lemont, Ill./Lemont) guided the offense with 34 assists against the Golden Eagles.

Sophomore Bayleana Sowers (Mt. Wolf, Pa./Northeastern) and Hayes each paced the team with 15 digs, while the trio of Leto, Litoborski and junior Taylor Solo (Irwin, Pa./Penn-Trafford) all collected 14 digs. Bellhy controlled the net with four blocks against Clarion on Saturday.

The Vulcans took the first set behind a .396 hitting percentage after committing only one attacking error on 48 attempts. Cal U raced out to a 3-1 lead before a kill from Clarion made it 3-2. The Vulcans won four of the next six points to extend the lead to 7-4 on a kill by van Schaik. The Golden Eagles scored back-to-back points to pull within 7-6 before the Vulcans answered with four-unanswered points to gain an 11-6 advantage on consecutive kills by Hayes. Following a timeout, Clarion won five of the next eight points to cut the deficit to 14-11 before Cal U took four of the next five points to take an 18-12 lead on a kill by van Schaik. The Golden Eagles went on a 4-1 run to trim the lead to 19-16 before the teams traded points with the score being 21-18 in favor of the Vulcans. The Vulcans won four of the final six points to take the first set by a count of 25-20 on a kill by Bellhy.

In the second set, Clarion raced out to a 5-1 lead before Cal U scored four of the next five points to pull within 6-5 on a bad set. The Golden Eagles extended their lead to 10-7 after taking four of the next six points. Cal U responded with a 10-1 run to take a 17-11 lead on a block assist before Clarion scored five of the next six points to trim the deficit to 18-16. Following a timeout, the Vulcans took five of the next seven points to extend their lead to 23-18 on a service ace by Sowers. A service error made it 23-19 before Cal U took two of the final three points to earn a 25-20 victory on a kill by Bellhy.

The Vulcans raced out to a 3-0 lead in the third set before the Golden Eagles took five of the next six points to take a 5-4 lead. Cal U scored six-unanswered points to regain the lead at 10-5 on an attacking error. The Golden Eagles scored four-straight points to pull within 10-9 and the Vulcans took five of the next seven points to extend the lead to 15-11 on a service ace by Solo. Clarion tallied three of the next four points to cut the lead to 16-14 before Cal U took three of the next five points to extend the lead to 19-16. The Golden Eagles went on a 3-1 run to pull within 20-19 before the Vulcans closed out the match by winning five of the final six points to win the third set 25-20 on a kill by Hayes.

Cal U begins play in the PSAC Tournament on Tuesday, Nov. 15, when it hosts fifth-seeded Shippensburg in the Convocation Center at 7 p.m.