Women's Volleyball

Gannon season ends after quarterfinals loss in the 2025 NCAA Division II Women's Volleyball Championship

QUARTERFINALS RECAP

***Release courtesy of Gannon Athletic Communications***

SIOUX FALLS, S.D. – The seventh-seeded Gannon volleyball team extended No. 2 seed Concordia-St. Paul to four games but saw its season come to a close on Thursday afternoon with a 3-1 loss to the Golden Bears. The Elite Eight is being held at the Sanford Pentagon.

Concordia-St. Paul (30-5), the Central Region champion, claimed the first set by a 25-10 margin, but the Golden Knights led virtually the entire second set and knotted the match at 1-1 with a 29-27 win. The Golden Bears won the next two sets by scores of 25-15 and 25-12 to advance to Friday's semifinals.

Head coach Matt Darling knew his Golden Knights squad, with a mixture of experience and plenty of youth, would have its hands full against a Concordia-St. Paul team that has won nine NCAA Div. II National Championships. The Golden Knights also own an impressive track record with Darling at the helm, appearing in back-to-back Elite Eights and four in the last five years.

Gannon concludes the season with a 27-8 record, the 16th straight year with 20-or-more wins (excluding the 2020 COVID-shortened season), and ninth consecutive with 25-or-more.   

GOLDEN KNIGHTS SHOW PLENTY OF RESILIENCE
The year began with Darling needing to replace four honorable mention All-Americans and integrate seven freshmen. The Golden Knights went on to win the PSAC West regular season title before losing to East Stroudsburg in the PSAC Championship match. Gannon came back to win the Atlantic Regional, sweeping Indiana (Pa.). Then on Thursday the Golden Knights had to play without Nehir Yazicioglu (Ankara, Turkey) and dropped the first set by 15 points. Back they came to win game two. As always, Darling's teams are resilient.

GOLDEN BEARS USE TWO RUNS TO PULL AWAY IN FIRST SET
Gannon opened the match with the first three points, but two big runs keyed the 25-10 win for Concordia-St. Paul. The Golden Bears scored the next seven points and with the score 13-8 they went on a 10-0 run.

GOLDEN KNIGHTS LEAD FROM START TO FINISH TO TIE THE MATCH
Undaunted by the first set loss Gannon came out fast once again, taking a 4-1 lead. Only this time the Golden Knights featured improved hitting and maintained a narrow lead throughout the set. Leading 24-21, CSP sent the match into extra points with the next three points. The Golden Bears never took the lead with Gannon eventually breaking a 27-27 tie on Carissa Treser's (Sewickley, Pa./North Allegheny) kill. A hitting error followed, giving Gannon the 29-27 win. Kasey Smith (Meadville, Pa./Villa Maria) and Treser had four kills in the set.

GOLDEN EAGLES FLEX MUSCLES IN FINAL TWO GAMES
For the first time in the match Concordia-St. Paul scored the first point of the set in game three. A hitting error and block gave Gannon a 2-1 lead but the Golden Knights spent the last two games on their heels. The Golden Eagles were again able to put together runs in both sets while winning game three 25-15 and game four 25-12.    

HITTING THE DIFFERENCE
Concordia-St. Paul came in ranked fourth in Division II in hitting percentage and finished the day at .342, including a sizzling .515 in the first set. As expected Gannon's best showing came in the second game as they hit .400 with 16 kills and just two errors. But the final two sets featured 15 errors.

ARSLAN CONCLUDES BRILLIANT CAREER
Senior Bengisu Arslan (Ankara, Turkey/Private Çankaya Doga Anatolian) concluded a brilliant career with 31 assists and 11 digs. The setter from Ankara, Turkey fell just shy of the school record for assists in a season and departs ranked second in career assists (4,512). She totaled 1,406 assists this season, five shy of Ashley Beyers' total of 1,411 in 2019. Arslan was one of three players named AVCA honorable mention All-Americans earlier in the week. She was joined by Lauren Atwell (Mars, Pa./Mars Area) and Sydney Wake (Massillon, Ohio/Jackson).

BY THE NUMBERS
Freshman Abbey Williams (Chicago, Ill./Mother Mcauley Liberal Arts) led Gannon with nine kills, adding 10 digs, a block solo and a block assist. Freshman libero Alexis Fowler (Cranberry Township, PA/Eden Christian Academy) had a team-high 21 digs. Carissa Treser (Sewickley, Pa./North Allegheny) and Kasey Smith (Meadville, Pa./Villa Maria) had seven kills apiece while Atwell had six kills and three block assists.

FEELING THE WRATH OF THE AVCA PLAYER OF THE YEAR
While Gannon had three All-Americans Concordia-St. Paul countered with the player deemed the best in Division II this year. Makenna Nold, the AVCA Div. II Player of the Year, finished with a match-high 20 kills 

 

THIRD ROUND RECAP

ERIE, Pa. - The Gannon Golden Knights are crowned the Atlantic Region Champions and move on to the quarterfinals of the 2025 NCAA Division II Women's Volleyball Tournament after a 3-0 victory over IUP.

Nehir Yazicioglu led Gannon in kills with 13, while also contributing 10 digs. Bengisu Arslan, Sydney Wake, and Abbey Williams were also key players in the three set sweep. Arslan finished with 41 assists, Wake had 11 kills and seven digs, while Williams led the Golden Knights in digs with 11. 

Gannon will play in the quarterfinals on December 11 and will see who their opponent is after all quaterfinal teams are seeded. 

NCAA Women's Volleyball Brakcey here
 

SECOND ROUND RECAP

ERIE, Pa. - The second round of the 2025 NCAA Division II Women's Volleyball Championship concluded tonight with two PSAC instituitions moving on to the third round. 

IUP defeats East Stroudsburg, 3-1

IUP earns a trip to the third round after their victory over East Stroudsburg. This match-up was a rematch of the PSAC Championship semifinals. Delaney Concannon was dominate once again finishing the match with 23 kills and 22 digs. The Crimson Hawks had a strong showing in Jessica Neiman (15 kills), Ellie Rauch (56 assists, three service aces), and Brooke Kessler (22 digs). 

Gannon defeats Pitt-Johnstown, 3-1

The Golden Knights secured their spot in the third round after a win over Pitt-Johnstown. Gannon looked to Abbey Williams, Sydney Wake, and Bengisu Arslan to lead them to victory. Williams finished the match with 17 kills, two service aces, and eight digs, Wake contributed 11 kills, while Arslan had 47 assists and 11 digs. Defensively, Alexis Fowler helped the Golden Knights with 13 digs.

IUP and Gannon will face off tomorrow December 6th at 4 p.m. in the Sweet 16 round of the 2025 NCAA Division II Women's Volleyball Championship and see who will be crowed the Atlantic Region Champion. 

FIRST ROUND RECAP

ERIE, Pa. - The first round of the 2025 NCAA Division II Women's Volleyball Championship concluded tonight with four PSAC instituitions moving on to the second round. 

IUP defeats Fairmont State, 3-0

The IUP Crimson Hawks keep their season alive with their three set sweep over Fairmont State. Delaney Concannon was on fire for the Crimson Hawks finishing with the most kills (16) and digs (22) on the team. Jessica Neiman contributed to the IUP win with her 14 kills, while Lexi McLanahan helped Concannon defensively with 15 digs. With 45 assists, Ellie Rauch was also a key contributer to today's match. 

East Stroudsburg defeats Charleston (W. Va.), 3-0

East Stroudsburg moves on to the second round after their win over Charleston (W. Va.). Key players for the Warriors include Anna Coulter (12 kills, three service aces, four blocks assisted), Allison Birtcil (11 kills), Kelly Crites (10 kills, four service aces), Marta Leeland (15 digs), and Kyra Bishop (31 assists, five blocks assisted). 

Gannon defeats Fayetteville State, 3-0

The Golden Warriors secure their spot in the second round after they defeated Fayetteville State. Sydney Wake and Abbey Williams helped Gannon in multiple statitical categories. Wake finished the match with 15 kills and six digs, while Williams contributed 11 kills, three service aces, eight digs, and 3 blocks assisted. Other top contributers for the Golden Knights were Bengisu Arslan (38 assists, eight digs) and Carissa Treser (five kills, nine digs).

Pitt-Johnstown defeats Shepherd, 3-0

Pitt-Johnstown takes the fourth and final spot in the second round of the Atlantic Region Tournament after their victory over Shepherd. Ellie Zuro Cirino had a dominate performance to help keep the Mountain Cats season alive. Zuro Cirino finished with 17 kills and two blocks assisted. Caroline Knight also contirbuted 11 kills while Abby Berry totaled 36 assists to help Pitt-Johnstown offensively. Defensively, Jessica Krug led the Mountain Cats with 11 digs.

The second round of the 2025 NCAA Division II Women's Volleyball Championship will take place tomorrow December 5 with IUP and East Stroudsburg playing at 4 p.m. and Gannon and Pitt-Johnstown facing off at 7 p.m.

All games will be streamed live on the PSAC Sports Digital Network.
 
Complete bracket information can be found here.

INDIANAPOLIS – Five Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference women’s volleyball programs were selected to compete in the 2025 NCAA Division II Women’s Volleyball Championship, the NCAA announced Monday evening: Gannon, East Stroudsburg, IUP, Pitt-Johnstown, and Shepherd.
 
The 2025 NCAA Division II Women’s Volleyball Championship features 64 teams and begins on Thursday, Dec. 4.
 
The No. 1 seed in the Atlantic Region for the fourth consecutive year is Gannon University. The Golden Knights (24-7 overall record) are coming off a runner-up finish in the 2025 PSAC Championship and will match up with No. 8 seed Fayetteville St. (21-5) in the first round.
 
The 2025 PSAC Champion, East Stroudsburg, claims the No. 2 seed and carries an overall record of 26-5. The Warriors will play No. 7 seed and surprise Mountain East Conference champion Charleston (23-12).

The No. 4-seeded Pitt-Johnstown Mountain Cats (17-11 overall) will face off with No. 5 seed Shepherd (19-10) in an all-PSAC matchup.
 
Rounding out the bracket is No. 3 seed IUP (20-8), which will face Fairmont State (23-10).
 
All games will be streamed live on the PSAC Sports Digital Network.
 
Complete bracket information can be found here.