One year after winning the program’s first conference championship since 2010, the Golden Eagle volleyball program put together another memorable season in 2022, reaching the NCAA Atlantic Region final and garnering their share of the national spotlight.

The groundwork for this year’s success has direct roots in 2021, when a relatively youthful and inexperienced roster coalesced over the course of the season. Early growing pains turned to gains as the lineup jelled, culminating in the team’s stunning conference championship run. Behind PSAC West Rookie of the Year Cassidy Snider and PSAC Tournament MVP London Fuller, the Golden Eagles defeated three higher-seeded opponents – two of which had beaten them in the regular season – en route to the third conference championship in program history.

Fortunately for head coach Jennifer Herron, the vast majority of that group was back in 2022, now a year more experienced and more understanding of what it took to challenge the region’s best. They wasted no time in establishing themselves as one of the teams to beat in the region, winning 10 straight matches to start the season, including a road victory at perennial power Wheeling.

That momentum carried into the conference schedule, where the Golden Eagles rushed their way to a 14-2 mark against their PSAC opponents. They once again reached the finals of the PSAC Tournament, this time falling in a five-set classic against Gannon. Clarion pushed through the first two rounds of the Atlantic Regional, beating West Liberty and Wheeling to make the Regional Final for the first time since 2010.

Fuller continued the personal progression that began in the previous season, earning recognition not just as one of the best players in the region but also in the country. She became the first player in Clarion history to earn a spot on an American Volleyball Coaches Association (AVCA) All-America team, earning third team honors, and was also a Division 2 Conference Commissioners Association (D2CCA) Second Team All-American. The senior setter was also the fourth player in program history to win PSAC West Athlete of the Year honors.

She was not the only one to earn regional and national recognition. Snider was named an AVCA All-America Honorable Mention for the second season in a row after pacing the Golden Eagle offense in kills per set. She and fellow outside hitter Julia Piccolino were consensus All-Region selections, earning spots on both the AVCA and D2CCA teams, and teammate Lauren Aichinger earned all-conference honors for the first time in her career.