The
Canisius College volleyball team started its three-match homestand with a
three-set sweep of Marist College in the Koessler Athletic Center on Saturday.
The Golden Griffins won 25-22, 25-20 and 25-23 to improve to 15-13 overall and
11-5 in the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference.
Sophomore
Samantha Good had a team-high 10
kills while hitting .368 in the match. Sophomore Emily Elek had eight kills while senior Jasmine Brennan, Good and junior Layne Adams each had four blocks on the day. Junior Janelle Davis added 22 assists.
"We
worked hard on our energy this week. We knew Marist was going to play a
different style from what we're used to seeing from them. They played a little
slower, and we wanted to increase the pace," Canisius coach Cathy Hummel said. "We lost that pace a
little bit in sets two and three, but we stayed in it long enough to get the
win.
Canisius
hit .379 in the opening set, and never relinquished the lead after Marist won
the opening point. The Griffs won six straight points on the serve of Elek to
go up 6-1. Marist (12-15, 7-8 MAAC) responded with a 5-2 run
to cut the Canisius lead to 8-6, but Canisius won eight of the next 10 points
to build a 16-8 lead. Three straight service aces from Lindsey Schmid would cut
the Canisius lead to 20-17, but a kill from Elek ended the run as Canisius
eventually won the set on a kill from Good.
The
teams stayed close for the first part of the second set. Canisius would create
some separation by winning three straight points, including a triple block from
Good, Brennan and senior Renee Lettow,
to go up 13-10. Marist never got closer than two points for the rest of the set as
a kill from Lettow closed out the set.
Canisius
built a 16-12 lead in the third set after a kill from Brennan, but Marist won
10 of the next 13 points to take a 22-19 lead on a kill from Schmid. Canisius
won the next two points, but another kill from Schmid gave Marist a 23-21 lead. The
Griffs won the final four points - taking advantage of two Marist errors and getting a service ace
from Davis and kill from Elek - to pick up the three-set win.
Schmid
led Marist with 11 kills and seven service aces to go along with five blocks.
Gabby Lutjen had 29 assists while Emily Brosky had a match-high 16 digs.
Canisius
returns to the court on Sunday, when the Golden Griffins host Siena. Match time
is set for 2 p.m.
Match Notes: Canisius
moves into sole possession of second place in the conference standings, a
half-game ahead of Iona. Coupled with Fairfield's three-set loss at Manhattan on Saturday, the Griffs
need to win one of their final two matches to clinch a top-three seed in the
MAAC Championship (Nov. 18-20 in Lake Buena Vista, Fla.)... Canisius improves to
8-2 at home this season and 32-11 (.744) at home since 2006 in conference play...
Canisius won a match in three sets for the first time since Sept. 26, against
Rider... Lettow played in her 114th match, moving into a tie for fifth
place in career matches played with Brittany Gerde... Canisius hit .247 on the
day and is hitting .264 in the KAC this season... Lettow had two or fewer attack
errors for the third straight match... Davis had a 42.3 assist percentage, her
highest in the last four matches... Adams had four or more blocks for the 10th
time this season... Good had double-digit kills for the 16th time this
season... Brennan had four blocks for the second time in the last three matches... Canisius moved to two matches above .500 for the first time this season.
