The
Canisius College volleyball team returned home and picked up two three-set wins
on the first day of the Canisius/Niagara Invitational in the Koessler Athletic
Center on Friday. Canisius defeated Colgate 25-20, 25-21 and 25-14 and then
defeated Robert Morris 25-22, 25-18, 25-22. The Golden Griffins improve to 4-6 on
the season.
In
the win over Colgate, sophomore Emily
Elek led all players with 13 kills, totaling 22 kills on the day, while
sophomore Samantha Good had 23 kills
in the two matches and just one error against Colgate to post a .643 attack
percentage against the Raiders. Junior Janelle
Davis had 49 assists and 12 digs in the two matches while sophomore Allyson Severyn had 21 digs in the six sets. Senior Renee Lettow had 16 kills and three
attack attempts on the day as Canisius posted attack percentages of .333 and
.366 while racking up 16 blocks.
"It's
nice to see our execution match our talent-level that we know we have as a
team. We really integrated everything together and that was great for us," Canisius coach Cathy Hummel
said. "We struggled the first two weekends of the season and it was enjoyable to be home and play
well in front of our fans."
Against
Colgate (3-4), Canisius jumped out to a lead early in the first set, winning
five straight points on the serve of Severyn to go up 6-2. The Griffs
maintained a healthy lead throughout the set, never letting the Raiders get
closer than three points. The teams played a tighter second set, with Colgate cutting the Canisius lead to 20-19 on a kill from Maureen Colligan. After a kill from Good
and service ace from Severyn built a 22-19 lead, the Griffs closed out the set
on a block from Layne Adams and
Davis. Canisius cruised to the third-set victory, winning the first four points
on the serve of Davis and never looking back.
Canisius
also controlled the first two sets against Robert Morris (3-6) as the Griffs never
trailed in either set. Canisius scored six of the first eight points and never let the Colonials get into the set. The Griffs also won the first three points in
the second set, getting two service aces from Davis en route to the 25-18 win.
Robert
Morris led for a majority of the third set, going up by as many as four points
at 13-9. The Colonials held a 17-14 lead before three straight points from the
Griffs tied the match at 17-17, starting a 11-5 run to close out the match. Two
kills from Elek gave Canisius its second win of the day.
Canisius
plays one match on Saturday, when the Golden Griffins take on Bucknell. Match
time in the KAC is set for 2 p.m.
Match Notes: Canisius
and Colgate met for the first time since 2006 and Canisius now holds an 8-6
lead in the all-time series... Canisius and Robert Morris met for the 17th
time with the Griffs now leading series 9-8... Adams had four blocks against
Colgate and three against Robert Morris, giving her three or more blocks in seven matches on the season... Good
matched her season-high for attack percentage, also hitting .643 at St. Francis
(N.Y.) on Aug. 29... Elek is averaging 3.00 kills per set in the last five
matches... Cansius is now 22-10 in its last 32 home matches dating back to the
2007 season... Canisius hit .250 or better in five of the six sets, including
.520 in the third set against Colgate... Canisius held the lead or was tied in
234 of the 269 points in the two matches combined (87 percent).
