The Canisius College volleyball team won all three matches at the La Salle Invitational in Philadelphia on Friday. The Golden Griffins defeated Providence in four sets (12-25, 25-16, 25-19, 26-24), swept the host Explorers (25-20, 25-18, 25-13) and defeated Morgan State in four sets (25-12, 25-22, 21-25, 25-19).

The schedule was adjusted to play three matches on Friday due to the impending weather from Hurricane Irene that will affect the East Coast this weekend. The non-conference match against Saint Peter's was cancelled.

"We struggled in the first set against Providence with some new roles, but once we adjusted I thought our team responded well," Canisius coach Cathy Hummel said. "We didn't play our best volleyball today and learned a lot about our team in playing other schools. It's always great to start with some wins and we'll look to build on that in practice this week and next week at Akron."

Canisius 3, Providence 1

The Griffs overcame an error-filled first set to win the next three sets. Senior Danielle Brawn led the Griffs with a career-high 20 kills while sophomore Emily Elek had a double-double with 12 kills and 21 digs. Junior Samantha Good had nine kills and zero errors on 15 attack attempts while senior Layne Adams led the Griffs with six blocks and sophomore Roxanne Hernandez had four blocks.

Canisius won the second and third sets easily before the teams played their closest set of the match in the fourth set. Providence held a 19-15 lead before the Griffs scored three straight points to get within one after a Providence attack error. Later in the set, Canisius scored three straight points again, capped by a block from Good and Adams. The Griffs won the match on their second match point, getting a kill from Good.

Canisius 3, La Salle 0

The Griffs easily won the match against the Explorers with Elek leading the team with 11 kills and Brawn posting 10 kills as the senior had a double-double with 10 digs. Hernandez posted four blocks for the second straight match.

Canisius jumped out to a big lead midway through the first set, scoring five straight points to push a 13-11 lead to 18-11, capped by two straight kills from Good. The Griffs pulled away in the second set, scoring four straight to go up 7-3 and never letting La Salle get closer than three points the rest of the way. In the third set, Canisius built a quick lead, going up 17-4 after a 6-0 run on the serve of Elek that included three straight kills from Brawn.

Canisius 3, Morgan State 1

Elek and Brawn had double-digit kills in the four-set win over Morgan State with each recording 13 kills in the match. Senior Joanna Burt had a career-high 15 kills  while senior Janelle Davis had her second 40-assist match of the day, posting 43 assists in the win.

Canisius scored the final five points to put away the first set against Morgan State. The Griffs would rally for the second-set win, scoring nine of the final 11 points as they turned a 20-16 deficit into a 25-22 lead. Sophomore Jessica Warner had two kills in the run that was capped by a kill from Elek. After Morgan State won the third set 25-21, the Griffs jumped out to a big lead in the fourth set. Canisius scored the first four points and eight of the first nine to go up 8-1 on a block from Adams and Elek. The Griffs never let Morgan State get closer than four as they closed the match on a kill from Elek.

Brawn and Good were named to the All-Tournament Team.

Canisius returns to the court next weekend for three matches at the Akron Invitational, starting with a match against Bradley at 10 a.m. on Friday.