SLIPPERY ROCK, Pa. -- The Slippery Rock University women's volleyball team gave the Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference-Western Division's second-place team all it could handle Tuesday night before it succumbed by a 3-1 score Morrow Field House to visiting Clarion in a match that featured four 25-20 set scores .

The win improved the Golden Eagles' season records to 22-6 overall, 12-2 in division play.

The Rock, the last-place team in the PSAC-West with a 3-11 league mark, saw its overall record fall to 7-19.

But the play on the court was anything but emblematic of a duel between teams with such distinctly different levels of success this season.

Equally encouraging to 26-year Rock head coach Laurie Lokash is the fact she has only one senior on this year's team, defensive specialist/libero Stacey Domer.

Tuesday's effort, coupled with The Rock's tooth-and-nail battle with Clarion in the teams' first meeting this season, gives Lokash and Co. reason for optimism in the seasons to come.

Tuesday's set scores were eerily similar to the results of the teams' first meeting Sept. 22 in Clarion, when the Golden Eagles won a 3-0 decision by set scores of 25-20, 25-22 and 25-19.

Kaylee Smith led The Rock in kills Tuesday with 10 and also recorded 17 digs and one block, Alee Kromer finished with nine kills and Alexa Erossy had eight kills, 18 digs and one block.

Smith, Kromer and Erossy are all sophomore outside hitters.

Junior middle blocker Keira Peoples had a team-high three blocks for SRU, while junior setters Kim Wilson and Anna Bixler handed out 16 and 14 assists, respectively, and Domer had two service aces.

Bixler also had 12 digs and sophomore middle hitter Lisa Bakaitis had one block.

The Rock returns to action at 4 p.m. Saturday, when it will host PSAC-West rival Mercyhurst in SRU's annual "Dig for the Cure" event in Morrow Field House. The event will benefit the Susan G. Komen Foundation for the Cure and breast cancer awareness.

For more information on the event, contact Rock Assistant Coach Erin Street at erin.street@sru.edu or 724.738.4960.