The Canisius College volleyball team started its 2010 season with a four-set victory at the Hofstra/Asics Invitational. The Golden Griffins defeated the host Pride 25-19, 25-17, 22-25, 25-19 on Friday afternoon.

The Canisius starting middle hitters combined for 21 of the team's 43 kills, each hitting .353 on the day. Sophomore Samantha Good had 14 kills and four blocks while junior Layne Adams added seven kills and three blocks. Senior Renee Lettow had a double-double with 11 kills and 11 digs.

Sophomore libero Allyson Severyn led all players with 23 digs while freshman Sydney Palka had 36 assists for the Griffs. Severyn was perfect on all 19 service receptions as Canisius posted a .973 service reception percentage in the match.

"In terms of experience and personnel, we are two evenly matched teams, but we made fewer errors today. Our ball control and passing were outstanding today and our middles played very well," Canisius coach Cathy Hummel said. "I felt we played with consistent energy and even when we lost the lead at the end of third set, our team bounced right back. We showed our deep bench and when somebody struggled, someone else rose to the occasion. That was very encouraging to see as it was a theme during preseason camp, and we carried it over to a match."

Canisius jumped out to a 10-5 lead in the first set and never relinquished the advantage. A 6-1 run gave Canisius the five-point lead as Hofstra never got closer than four points the rest of the set. The Griffs broke open the second set with another 6-1 run, getting two kills from Good and service aces from freshman Sydney Palka and junior Danielle Brawn during the run. The Griffs closed out the set with a kill from Lettow and another ace from Palka.   

Hofstra rallied to win the third set as Canisius held a 20-15 lead, but the Pride won five straight points and 10 of the last 12 points to force a fourth set. The Griffs slowly pulled away throughout the fourth set and used a kill from Lettow to finish out the match.

Canisius returns to the court for two matches on Saturday. The Golden Griffins face Missouri State at 11 am and then take on Texas State at 3 p.m.

Match Notes: Canisius wins its season opener for the second time in the last three seasons... Canisius wins its first road game for the third consecutive season... Lettow had a double-double for the fourth consecutive match, dating back to three straight at the end of the 2009 season... The .973 service reception percentage was the best in a road match since a .986 percentage at Manhattan on Sept. 27, 2009... Severyn was perfect on service receptions for the 11^th time in her career while Hanggi didn't commit a service reception error in 14 attempts.