Volleyball Set to Open 2025 Season Aug. 29 in Ohio

Canisius head volleyball coach Tom Hanna announced the Golden Griffins' 2025 schedule today. The 51st season in program history will officially begin Aug. 29, when the team plays a pair of matches on the first day of the YSU Invitational, presented by Mercy Health, in Youngstown, Ohio.

In all, Canisius' 2025 schedule will feature 28 matches, with 10 contests against non-conference opponents and 18 matches against Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference (MAAC) rivals.

The Blue and Gold will compete in three non-conference tournaments prior to starting league play, beginning with the YSU Invitational, presented by Mercy Health, Aug. 29. Canisius will start the event with matches against Duquesne and Mercyhurst before taking on the host Youngstown State Penguins Aug. 30 at 3 p.m.

On Sept. 5-6, Canisius will travel east on the New York State Thruway to play three matches in the UAlbany Invitational. The Griffs will take on Syracuse Sept. 5 before meeting Cornell and the host UAlbany Great Danes on Sept. 6. The following weekend, the Blue and Gold will make a trip to the Bearcat Invitational in Binghamton, N.Y., where the team will square off against Bucknell and Binghamton on Sept. 12 before playing Mercyhurst Sept. 13. Canisius will close out the non-league portion of its schedule Sept. 17 at Le Moyne.

The 2025 MAAC schedule features a new format, with most league games scheduled to be played on Friday and Saturday, instead of the traditional Saturday/Sunday scheduling format. The Griffs' first three MAAC matches will be played at home, starting Sept. 26 when the Blue and Gold plays host to Iona. Canisius will also play host to Manhattan (Sept. 27) before hosting long-time rival Niagara on Sept. 30.

Canisius starts the month of October with four-straight road matches, beginning Oct. 3-4 with contests at Quinnipiac and Merrimack. After traveling to New York City to play at Manhattan (Oct. 10) and at Iona (Oct. 11), the Griffs open a season-long four-match homestand Oct. 17 when Rider comes to Buffalo. In that four-game homestand, Canisius will also play host to Saint Peter's (Oct. 18), Marist (Oct. 24) and Siena (Oct. 25).

A match at Niagara on Oct. 28 starts the Griffs' final road swing of the year, which will see the Blue and Gold play at Saint Peter's (Oct. 31), at Rider (Nov. 1), at Sacred Heart (Nov. 7) and at defending MAAC champion Fairfield on Nov. 8. Canisius will close out the 2025 regular season at home with a pair of home matches against Merrimack (Nov. 14) and Quinnipiac (Nov. 15).

The MAAC has also adopted a new postseason format for the 2025 MAAC Volleyball Championship, which features a six-team, single-elimination bracket. The opening round, which will take place on campus on Tuesday, Nov. 18, will have the tournament's No. 3 seed playing host to the No. 6 seed, while the fourth-seeded team will play the No. 5 seed. The winners of the first round matches will then move on to the semifinal round. The semifinals and championship will be hosted on the campus of the MAAC regular season champion.

Canisius returns six letterwinners from last year's team that went 17-14 overall and 12-6 in MAAC play, which included a trip to the MAAC Volleyball Championship semifinal round.

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