By Colin Richey
Canisius volleyball finished 1-1 in their final two matches of the regular season, with a 3-0 win over Siena and a 3-0 loss against Marist. With their 11-7 finish in the conference, the Griffins have the four seed entering the MAAC Volleyball Championship.
Thanks to an important win over Siena, Canisius clinched the fourth seed before their final game. The Griffs dominated the first set, which included a 7-1 run to start the match. The Griffins won easily, 25-14. The team’s dominance didn’t stop there. In the second set, the Griffs accomplished an 11-0 run to start the frame. They finished strong with a 7-2 run, for a total score of 25-11. Siena began to hold their own against Canisius in the third set, tying it 8-8 early on. A 6-0 run propelled the team to a 25-16 win, and a 3-0 sweep in the match.
Sophomore outside hitter Taylor Baldwin led the team with fifteen kills, and also recorded one ace and two blocks. Senior libero Bree Long led the team with 22 digs, while freshman setter Ella Bourque registered a team high thirty assists. This marks the 15th MAAC match this season where Bourque has tallied thirty or more assists.
Canisius closed out the regular season with Senior Day against Marist, the second seed in the MAAC standings. The team honored seniors Ella Loussia, Elle Shult, Bree Long, and Camille Vanleer. The Griffs struggled to generate enough offense, losing all three sets by six or seven points. Senior outside hitter Loussia led the team with nine kills, and finished second on the team with nine digs (trailing only Long’s twelve). Bourque once again led the team in assists, this time finishing with 26. She became just the ninth player in program history, and first freshman, to record 1,000 assists in a single season.
The Griffins traveled to Lake Buena Vista, Florida to participate in the 2022 MAAC Championship at the Disney Wide World of Sports Complex. Their quarterfinal match is against Siena, who they recently swept 3-0, but lost a close 3-2 matchup to earlier in the season.
Fourth-seeded Canisius was swept by No. 5 seed Siena, 3-0, in quarterfinal-round action.
The Saints won the match by scores of 26-24, 25-17 and 25-20 to advance to the tournament semifinals, where they will face top-seeded Fairfield Friday at noon. The Golden Griffins (13-15) saw their season come to a close with the defeat.
Sophomore outside hitter Kara Zaucha paced Canisius, recording a double-double with 14 kills and 10 digs. Senior outside hitter Ella Loussia added seven kills and eight digs of her own with senior libero Bree Long leading Canisius with 18 digs. At the net, junior right side Alexa Albinson picked up four total blocks with senior middle blocker Elle Shult recording the only solo block for Canisius.
Down by as much as five in the first set, the Griffs were able to storm back and tie the score, 17-17. The two sides exchanged points until the very end, with Siena scoring the final two points of the set off a service ace from Emily Wood and a Canisius attack error to take the set, 26-24, and grab a 1-0 match lead.
Siena would use a .325 hitting percentage to propel themselves to a 25-17 victory in the second set a 2-0 match lead. After the intermission, Canisius and Siena would exchange the first few points of the third set before a 7-1 run, propelled by kills Sara Wagner and Wunder, allowed the Saints to take the third set, 25-20, and complete the sweep.
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