The
Canisius College volleyball team defeated Loyola University in four sets in the
quarterfinal round of the 2010 MAAC Championship at ESPN Wide World of Sports
Complex in Lake Buena Vista, Fla. on Thursday. The Golden Griffins won 25-21,
21-25, 25-11 and 25-17 to improve to 16-15 on the season and advance to the semifinals for the third time in the last five seasons.
Canisius
next plays No. 2 seed Iona in the semifinals on Friday at 8 p.m. The match will be televised
live on ESPN3.com.
Sophomore
Samantha Good led the Griffs with 11
kills and a season-high nine blocks while junior Danielle Brawn had season highs with nine kills and a .320 attack
percentage. Junior setter Janelle Davis
had 34 assists, eight digs and seven kills. Sophomore libero Allyson Severyn had 25 digs and was
perfect on all 26 service receptions. Senior Jasmine Brennan and junior Layne
Adams each had six blocks as Canisius had 17 blocks in the match.
"We
had a lot of first-touch errors in the second set. After that, we focused on
ourselves and just giving ourselves a chance to stay in the match," Canisius
coach Cathy Hummel said. "We
continued to get some contributions from the bench, which is what we like to
see. I also liked that we played with heart but controlled our emotions."
Canisius
used a 9-3 run to take a 10-6 lead in the first set, getting a service ace from
Brawn and kill from Davis to take the four-point lead. Loyola tied the match at
16-16 on a kill from Nicole Sarby, but the Griffs scored five of the next six
points, capped by the fourth kill of the set from sophomore Emily Elek to take a 22-18 lead. The
Griffs used a kill from Brennan to close out the set.
Loyola
(14-19) won the first three points in the second set and never trailed en route
to tying the match at one set apiece. The Griffs then dominated the third set,
building a 10-3 lead and never looking back. Canisius held Loyola to a -.160
attack percentage in the set while the Griffs posted a match-high .320 attack
percentage in the set to go up two sets to one in the match.
Canisius
never trailed in the fourth set, going on a 6-1 run to take an 11-6 lead on a
kill from Good. The Greyhounds wouldn't go away easily, responding with a
four-point run to get within one an 11-10 on a service ace from Katie Dircks.
Canisius broke the set open with a 7-2 run, using a block from Adams and
Brennan to make it 181-12. The Griffs also won the final four points of the
match, using blocks on the final four points to win the match.
Sarby
led all players with 14 kills in the match while Nina Camaioni had a double-double
with 13 kills and 11 digs for Loyola.
Match Notes: Canisius
will play in the semifinals of the MAAC Championship for the third time in the
last five seasons... Canisius takes the season series from Loyola for the first
time since 2006... Canisius defeats Loyola in quarterfinals of the MAAC
Championship for the second consecutive meeting (2006)... The 17 blocks for
Canisius were the most by the Griffs in any match since they had 18 against
Loyola in the quarterfinals of the 2006 MAAC Championship, the last time the
conference tournament was at the ESPN Wide World of Sports Complex... Davis had
30-plus assists for the third straight match... Brawn has 13 kills in the last
six sets after recording four kills in the fifth set against Niagara on
Saturday... Severyn was perfect on service receptions for the seventh time this
season... The six blocks for Adams were the most since the junior had eight
against Fairfield on Oct. 9... Good had double-digit kills for the fifth
consecutive match and for the 19th time this season. Good also had
four or more blocks for the fifth straight match... Elek had double-digit digs
for the third time in 2010 and matched her career high with the five blocks
(Sept. 18 at Siena)... Brennan matched her career high with the six blocks (Oct.
3 at Manhattan) and has four or more blocks for the fifth time in the last six
matches... Davis moved into second place on the all-time assists list (2,649), passing Lauren Lackovich... Severyn moved into fifth place on the all-time digs list (1,137), passing Kara Fadel... Senior Renee Lettow played in her 117th career match, tied for second all-time
