WHEELING, WV – For the first time this season, the Edinboro University volleyball team defeated local PSAC rival Gannon and it came in the biggest meeting of the year. The Fighting Scots secured a spot in the NCAA Atlantic Region Finals tomorrow afternoon for the first time since 2007 with a 3-0 sweep (25-22, 25-22, 25-22) of the Lady Knights on Saturday night at the Alma Grace McDonough Center in Wheeling, WV. With the win, the Fighting Scots improve to 25-8 while Gannon suffered just its fourth loss of the year to conclude the year at 31-4. Gannon swept the regular season series with the Fighting Scots and won the 2016 PSAC Championship.
 
The Fighting Scots will face either the number one seed and Regional host Wheeling Jesuit or another familiar PSAC foe in Pitt-Johnstown in the final tomorrow at 5 p.m.
 
On the potential matchups, head coach Missy Soboleski said "it doesn't matter [who we play], we're just glad to be there. Like I said, we're going to enjoy the experience and enjoy the ride an just have fun."
 
Reminiscent of the final regular season game there was a three-set sweep between Edinboro and Gannon, only it was Edinboro breaking out the brooms this time. The Fighting Scots won all three sets by scores of 25-22.
 
Assistant coach Jimmy Chan detailed what beating Gannon meant to this team after a regular season-sweep. "It's a good closure to have. The first two losses were tough losses, especially the first one, the second one was even harder to swallow, but these girls were ready to come in and play and win tonight" said Chan.
 
Soboleski was extremely satisfied with her team's output in the match saying, "It was nice to see our team perform at such a level to be able to take down a team like Gannon … I just can't put it all into words right now."
 
The Edinboro attack was led for a second day in a row by the senior duo of Latoya Hutchinson and Victoria Severo. Both Fighting Scots finished with 9 kills. Hutchinson pushed her career total to 989 kills, just 11 shy of becoming the 15^th Fighting Scot to join the 1,000-kill club. Sophomore Hannah Cantrill finished with seven kills and 10 digs. Junior Challen Litwiler added five kills and a game-high 17 digs.
 
Sydney Trathen directed the Edinboro attack, dishing out 28 assists. The junior also totaled nine digs and two block assists. Severo and Cantrill also totaled two block assists apiece. Hutchinson added a block solo. Freshman Jordan Van Oss finished with 12 digs and a pair of service aces.
 
The Fighting Scots did a fantastic job keeping PSAC Volleyball Athlete of the Year Hannah Kren in check. Kren finished with just five kills on 26 attempts and had seven hitting errors. Kelsey Ansec led the Lady Knights with 11 kills. Ansec was the only player on either team to total double figure kills. Kren and Carolyn Knollman finished tied for the team-lead with 16 digs. Sara Crandall added 12 digs.