Despite a strong first two sets to open the match, the Canisius College volleyball team dropped its home contest against Siena on Saturday afternoon. The two teams split the opening two frames, but the Saints came out of the break and bested the Griffs with two-straight set wins. With the loss the Blue and Gold drops to 6-15 overall and 4-8 in MAAC play, while Siena improves to 7-16 and 6-7 in conference action.

The first two sets were tightly contested, with Siena squeaking out a 32-30 win over the Griffs, and Canisius bouncing back with a 25-14 second-set victory.

Out of the intermission however that story changed with Siena taking control, and cruising to two-straight set wins by the score of 25-15 and 25-16, respectively, to record the win.

Jacklyn Malusa and Katlyn Tyler led Canisius offensively, as both had 13 kills during the match. Malusa led the team in hitting percentage with a .226 mark. Cassidy Ceriani continued to be a strong contributor to the lineup posting 42 assists and 11 digs, for the double-double. Malusa also tallied a double-double adding 24 digs to her 13 killsl, while Tyler followed suit with 17 digs.

Siena was led by Briana Flagg who posted 18 kills, while Haley Howell had 46 assists and Kalehua Katgiri led the way with 25 digs.

THOUGHTS FROM COACH VAZQUEZ

“Our serve receive struggled a bit in our third and fourth set,” head coach Lenika Vazquez said. “They were serving some pretty tough balls that dropped in front of us and we didn't handle them well. That was the biggest difference. Overall, we got some pretty good performances from senior Jackie Malusa and freshman Carly Shifflet. Kat Tyler had quite a few digs as well, so stat-wise the numbers were there, we were just in serve receive for too long.”

GAME NOTES:
• Siena wins the 45th all-time meeting between the two teams, with Canisius now trailing 15-30.
• Jacklyn Malusa recorded 24 digs for a season-high total. Malusa's career-high is 27, recorded against Rider on 2015.
• Cassidy Ceriani recorded her 10th double-double of the season, increasing her team lead. She recently posted the first triple-double Canisius has had since the 2004 season.

UPNEXT:
The Griffs attempt to salvage the weekend, as the squad plays host to Marist on Sunday. Match time is slated for 1 p.m.