BUFFALO, N.Y. ? The Canisius College volleyball team took the final three sets of the match to defeat the University at Buffalo 22-25, 25-22, 25-19, 25-14 on Wednesday night, at Alumni Arena. The Griffs now stand at 4-1 on the season to match the best start in program history and defeated Buffalo in consecutive years for the first time in program history.
Sophomore Renee Lettow led Canisius with 17 kills and a team-best .324 attack percentage. Freshman Janelle Davis had her second consecutive double-double with 32 assists and 13 digs. Senior Sarah Podlesh added 19 digs while Michelle Godfrey had four solo blocks.
“We stayed tough mentally throughout all four games to get our best win of the season. That was great to see after the long layoff and after dropping the first set,” Canisius College coach Cathy Hummel said. “We received some great contributions off the bench tonight.”
Buffalo took the early lead in the first set, going up 7-4 before Canisius won seven consecutive points to take an 11-7 lead. With Canisius up 13-9, Buffalo responded with a seven-point run of its own to make the score 16-14. The teams stayed close until late in the set when the Bulls won the final three points to win the first set 25-22.
Canisius jumped out to an early lead in the second set, going up by as many as five points and holding a 9-4 lead after a kill by Morgan Ammons. The Bulls would respond with an 8-3 run to tie the game at 12-12. Later in the set, Canisius would go on a three-point run to take a 22-19 lead. Buffalo would cut the deficit to one, but could never get any closer as Canisius tied the game on a kill by Godfrey.
Buffalo came out of the intermission by winning the first four points of the third set but the Griffs responded with nine consecutive points, their longest run of the match, to take the 9-4 lead. Buffalo would come right back with a six-point run to gain the 10-9 advantage. With the score tied at 13-13, the Griffs broke open the third set with a six-point run to go up 19-13 and eventually closed it out on an attack error by the Bulls.
Canisius used a 5-1 run to gain control of the fourth set, taking a 13-8 lead. The Bulls would get as close as three at 15-12, but Canisius scored 10 of 12 points to put the game away and win for the fourth time this season.
Canisius returns to the court this weekend at the Bucknell Invitational for four games. The Griffs begin their schedule against Fairleigh Dickinson Friday, with game time set for 6 p.m.
Game Notes: Canisius had won at Buffalo one time previously, which came Nov. 12, 1997, in a five-set win... Canisius defeated Buffalo in consecutive years for the first time in program history... The teams have split their last six meetings after Buffalo won 49 of the first 53 meeting between the schools... Canisius and Buffalo met for the 59th time... Canisius is 4-0 when winning the third set in 2008... Davis topped the 30-assist mark for the fifth consecutive game... Davis became the first Golden Griffin to have back-to-back double-doubles since Brittany Gerde had four straight from Oct. 14-27, 2007... Dating back to last season, Podlesh has an ace in the last seven games... Canisius also started 4-1 in 2006.
