The Golden Eagles (29-4) open NCAA Division II Tournament play in the Atlantic Region at 2:30 p.m. Thursday when they face PSAC West rival Edinboro (21-12) at Wheeling Jesuit.

Clarion, the second seed in the Atlantic Region, has faced seventh-seeded Edinboro twice this season winning 3-1 at Edinboro Oct. 17 behind 18 kills and 12 digs from Carlie Bieranowski and topping the Fighting Scots 3-1 Nov. 8 at Tippin Gym thanks to 16 kills and six digs from Taylor Braunagel.

“They are a very athletic team,” Clarion’s eighth-year head coach Jennifer Mills, who was named the PSAC West Coach of the Year for the second straight season last week, said. “We just have to play disciplined volleyball knowing that we are expecting a lot of long rallies. They are also a great defensive team. They really push that facet. For us, its just a matter of ball control.”

PSAC West Champion Clarion is making its sixth straight trip to the NCAA Division II Tournament and its 11th in the last 13 years. The Golden Eagles won the Atlantic Region Tournament in 2010 advancing to the Elite Eight for the first time in school history. Clarion, though, hasn’t been to a Regional final since that 2010 season and has fallen in the Round of 32 in each of the last two seasons. The Golden Eagles are also coming off a 3-0 loss to eventual PSAC Champion California (Pa.) in the opening round of the PSAC Tournament last week at Tippin Gym.

“I just think we need to be more disciplined,” Mills said.” We need to understand the game plan a little better and make sure we are working hard on every point and have that no-give-up attitude. We just need to get a little better than we were in the PSAC Playoffs.”

Mills believes the break, Clarion will have been off eight days, its longest stretch of the season without a match, will be beneficial for the Golden Eagles.

“Sometimes taking a break can allow you to refocus,” Mills said. “You have a little more energy and you are rejuvenated. I know, for us, there were definitely some stuff we needed to work on. We see it as an advantage.”

Clarion is led by the two-time PSAC West Athlete of the Year, setter Laura Subject.

Subject leads the PSAC and ranks 17th nationally in set assists per set with 11.36. She has 4,009 career set assists, just the third player in school history to record 4,000 in a career.

Subject has been instrumental in the development of a young group of hitters for the Golden Eagles that includes middle hitter Gabrielle Olson, the PSAC West Freshman of the Year, as well as Braunagel, a freshman outside hitter, and a pair of first-year key contributors in sophomore right-side hitter Mackenzie Biggs and junior outside hitter Abbey Cox.

Bieranowski, a fifth-year senior, was the only experienced hitter the Golden Eagles had returning from last year’s team that tied the school-record forwins with 32.

Olson is fourth in the PSAC in hitting percentage at .313 and 18th in blocks at 0.82 while averaging 2.23 kills per set.

Braunagel leads Clarion and is sixth in the PSAC with 3.10 kills per set, while Biggs is 12th in the PSAC in hitting percentage at .278 and averages 2.83 kills and 0.65 blocks per set.

Cox chips in 2.04 kills per set with Bieranowski averaging 2.44 kills per set and 2.82 digs per set.

Another freshman, who started the season as strictly a defensive specialist but has moved into an outside hitting role at times, is Catherine Ferragonio, who averages 0.90 kills per set and 3.20 digs per set.

Defensively, the Golden Eagles are paced by the PSAC West Defensive Player of the Year, junior Libero Morgan Seybold.

Seybold averages a PSAC-leading 6.37 digs per set which also leads the Atlantic Region and ranks fourth nationally.

Sophomore defensive specialist Mattison Thornton chips in 1.90 digs per set.

Edinboro, which finished sixth in the PSAC West missing the PSAC Playoffs, is paced by their setter, Sydney Trathen, who averages 7.09 set assists per set.

Jen Gruber leads the offense with 2.51 kills per set with Tabitha Meeks adding 2.37 kills per set and Marah Maycock 2.21. Maycock chips in on defense with 2.95 digs per set, while Trathen adds 2.46 digs per set. Haley Marett is eighth in the PSAC with 5.29 digs per set.

The winner of the Clarion/Edinboro match will face the winner of the match between sixth-seeded Mercyhurst and third-seeded California (Pa.) at 5 p.m. Friday at Wheeling Jesuit. The other half of the bracket has top-seeded Wheeling Jesuit facing eighth-seeded Chowan and fourth-seeded Seton Hill taking on fifth-seeded Gannon.

NOTES- Ticket prices for the tournament at $25 for an all-sessions pass or $10 per session for adults and $5 for students.

Clarion last met Edinboro in the postseason in the 2011 PSAC Quarterfinals beating the Fighting Scots 3-2 at Edinboro.