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Volleyball Celebration vs. St. Francis
Marshal Filipowicz
3
Winner Cornell CU 5-2
0
Canisius CAN 2-8
Winner
Cornell CU
5-2
3
Final
0
Canisius CAN
2-8
Set Scores
Team 1 2 3 F
Cornell CU 25 25 25 (3)
Canisius CAN 17 15 18 (0)
0
Saint Francis (PA) SFU 0-11
3
Winner Canisius CAN 3-8
Saint Francis (PA) SFU
0-11
0
Final
3
Canisius CAN
3-8
Winner
Set Scores
Team 1 2 3 F
Saint Francis (PA) SFU 23 11 8 (0)
Canisius CAN 25 25 25 (3)

Game Recap: Volleyball |

Volleyball Dominates St. Francis to Earn Friday Split

After falling in straight sets to Cornell in the morning, the Canisius volleyball team responded by dominating St. Francis (Pa.) in a sweep Friday afternoon at Alumni Arena in Buffalo, N.Y. The Golden Griffins could not put it together against the Big Red (17-25, 15-25, 18-25), but were able to push through early against the Red Flash to cruise to a three-set win in the nightcap (25-23, 25-11, 25-8).
 
Canisius now sits at 3-8 on the season, while Cornell shifted to 5-2 and St. Francis remained winless at 0-11 in 2019.
 
Game One Recap
The Griffs were powered by senior Leah Simmons, as the middle hitter led the squad with seven kills and four block assists. Sophomore Hannah Nelson and freshman Ella Loussia also contributed offensively, as Nelson had four kills to go with six digs while Loussia recorded three kills for the Griffs. Senior setter Cassidy Ceriani totaled 16 assists and seven digs, and freshman libero Bree Long finished the opening match with 11 digs and four assists.
 
The Big Red were led by Joanna Chang's nine kills and three aces, with Jenna Phelps following her at six kills and five block assists. Zoe Chamness racked up 18 assists and Emma Worthington added on 16 more assists for Cornell, while Lily Barber registered 17 digs at the libero spot.
 
After holding the first set close early on, Canisius surrendered a 6-0 run halfway through the frame to the Big Red that helped Cornell secure the 25-17 win.  The second stanza saw the Griffs take the lead briefly at 6-5 but Cornell then went on a 11-2 stretch that gave the Big Red a hefty 16-8 advantage. Cornell would extend the lead further and walk away with the 25-15 set victory.
 
It would be more of the same in the third set, as the Big Red knocked off the Blue and Gold by a 25-18 score despite the Griffs receiving a boost from the season debut of sophomore Camila Vazquez.
 
Game Two Recap
Leading the Canisius offense once again were Simmons and Nelson, as both hitters notched nine kills. Nelson also had eight digs and a career-high seven service aces, while Simmons adding three more aces. Additionally, sophomore Melina Woods and freshman Camille Vanleer both tallied four kills for the Griffs, with Woods recording eight digs as well. Ceriani registered 24 assists in the match to go with eight digs and four aces. Long had 10 digs and five assists from the libero spot, while three Griffs posted two block assists.
 
The Red Flash saw Madi Tyus notch a match-high 11 kills and Alexa Mamone add on 10 kills herself. Shannon Thomas tallied 23 assists and Kimmy Sweeney dug 17 balls in the loss.
 
Opening the match, Canisius and St. Francis battled late into the first frame as the Red Flash held a 23-20 edge before the Griffs rattled off five-straight points to steal the first set, 25-23. The next two sets would be all Canisius, going on a 55-19 run to finish the contest.

In the second frame, the Blue and Gold jumped out to a 7-1 advantage at the start and managed a pair of 4-0 runs later in the set to cruise to a 25-11 win. That would be topped in the third set, as Canisius opened up with four-straight points and later ripped off 9-0 run en route to a lopsided 25-8 victory that closed out the match sweep.
 
Head Coach Lenika Vazquez's Postgame Comments
"The girls made a decision (against St. Francis) to say "Hey, this is how we are going to play, this is the team we are going to be during this match". We talked about it in the locker room a bit and they didn't stop. I'm pretty proud of them for following through on that conversation.
 
"As a group, we made the choice to have a good time and ease up on errors. Volleyball is a game of errors. At some point, somebody is going make one but it's about how recover from them and in the second match today we did a good job of recovering.
 
"The next step is the same thing we've been doing: figuring out what we need to work on day-to-day and then going in the gym for practice to work on those things."
 
Game Notes
• Cornell moves to 8-1 in the all-time series with Canisius.
• Canisius and St. Francis' all-time series now moves to 14-7 in favor of the Griffs.
• Simmons has now led or shared the team lead in kills in nine of Canisius' 11 matches.
• Canisius' .295 team hitting percentage against SFU is a season-high.
• The Griffs, with 15 aces against SFU, were one service ace shy of matching the program record for aces in a three-set contest.
• Nelson's seven aces is the most in a match by a Griff since Sarah Podlesh recorded a program-record nine aces against St. Francis (N.Y.) in a three-set match on Sept. 23, 2005.
 
Up Next
The Griffs close out the weekend and non-conference play on Saturday with a meeting against the host Buffalo Bulls, with that match set to begin at 12:30 p.m.
 
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