The
Canisius College volleyball team set a program record with a .554 attack
percentage and swept Saint Peter's 25-19, 25-12, 25-11 to improve to 16-10
overall and 13-3 in the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference. With the Golden
Griffins' win combined with Manhattan's five-set win at Niagara on Sunday
afternoon, the Golden Griffins enter the final weekend of the regular season
tied with Fairfield in first place in the conference standings.
Senior
Samantha Good had 13 kills and a
.667 attack percentage to go along with six blocks and three service aces.
Junior Emily Elek had eight kills on
12 attack attempts in two sets. Junior Sydney
Palka added 26 assists while senior Allyson
Severyn had 12 digs. Freshman Lauren
Siebert recorded six kills on nine attack attempts with two blocks in two
sets.
"You couldn't have scripted a better weekend
for our seniors in their last two home matches," Canisius coach Cathy Hummel said. "We had some Senior
Day jitters early in the first set, but once we settled down, we played some
high-quality volleyball.
"It
is also encouraging to see the future of this program as they played very well
in the third set. We are going to need some of those players in the next two
weeks as we strive to win a conference championship."
Saint
Peter's (1-30, 0-17 MAAC) won four of the first five points before Canisius
used an 11-3 run to take a 12-7 lead on a kill from junior Roxanne Hernandez. The Peacocks didn't go away, eventually tying
the score at 16-16 after a block from Kassi Wirth and Lexandra Wirth. Canisius
then scored the next three points, capped by a block from Good and junior Jessica Warner, to take control of the
set. A kill from junior Emily Elek
would close out the set.
Canisius
broke open the second set with 6-0 run, to turn an 8-6 lead into a 14-6
advantage. Siebert had two kills during the run, which also included a service
ace from Warner. The Peacocks could never get closer than five points as kills
from freshman Grace Streicher and
Warner wrapped up the second set.
The
Griffs were never seriously threatened in the third set, winning the first five
points and not looking back. Canisius had three separate runs of at least five
points in the set. Freshman Rachel Kline
had three kills for the Griffs in set while freshman Amy Osinski had two kills on three attack attempts. Freshman Grace Streicher also had nine assists.
Canisius
plays its final two regular-season matches next weekend, taking on Iona on
Saturday, and Fairfield on Sunday. Match time each day is set for 2 p.m.
Notes: Prior
to the start of the match, the Canisius volleyball program honored Good,
Severyn and senior Logan Sulongga... Canisius
broke the program record of .478 for an attack percentage in a three-set match,
previously set against Quinnipiac on Sept. 2, 2006... Canisius defeats Saint
Peter's for the ninth straight year in the KAC... Palka had 26 assists on 45 set
attempts for a season-best percentage of .578... Severyn had her 38th
straight match with double-digit digs and now has 2,207 digs in her career... In
the last five matches, Good is averaging 3.47 kills per set and 1.37 blocks per
set and has a .409 attack percentage... Good's .667 attack percentage is the
highest by a MAAC player with at least 12 kills in a match this season and is the third-highst by a Golden Griffin in program history... The
.554 attack percentage is also the highest by a MAAC team in a match this
season.
