CANISIUS COLLEGE ATHLETICS
AKRON, O.H. — The Canisius volleyball team finished off its trip to the Akron Invitational on Sunday, falling to the defending America East champion Stony Brook, 3-1 (20-25, 25-19, 23-25, 20-25). Leah Simmons was the driving force for the Blue and Gold, as her team-best 18 kills made the middle blocker one of three Griffs to record double-digit kills.
The Golden Griffins started the match down in a 3-0 hole that they could not get out of, losing the opening set to Stony Brook, 25-20. The Griffs bounced back in the second set, going on a 5-0 scoring stretch that eventually propelled them to a 25-19 victory. The third set started well for the Blue and Gold but a few runs by the Seawolves forced the Griffs to battle back. Canisius did tie it at 22-22, but the Seawolves won the set, 25-23. In the fourth and final set, Stony Brook used a 6-0 stretch to take the lead, and they never gave it up, beating the Griffs, 25-20, to win the match.
Senior Sara Wesley was one of the other Griffs to reach double-digit kills, racking up 14 and chipping in three total blocks. Freshman Camila Vazquez was the final Griff to reach double digits with her 10 kills. Junior Gabrielle Darnaby was a jack-of-all-trades for Canisius, tallying seven kills, two assists, five digs and three total blocks.Melina Woods continued to make an impact as a rookie, notching six more kills. Cassidy Ceriani and Sofia Lopez Acosta were once again the Canisius leaders in assists and digs, respectively. Ceriani recorded 47 assists to go with five kills, while Lopez Acosta continued to have a strong weekend with 21 digs in the libero spot.
Stony Brook was led by Emily Costello’s 19 kills, while Kiani Kerstetter paced them with 16 digs. Leanne Sakowicz was the Seawolves’ assists leader with 39 for the match.
The Stony Brook win improves them to a 3-4 record and breaks a four-match losing skid. The Canisius loss is the fourth-straight for the Griffs, putting them at a 1-5 record.
Game Notes:
• Ceriani was named to the Akron Invitational All-Tournament Team, her second straight weekend making an all-tournament team after the CSU Invitational last week.
• Ceriani now sits at 1,836 career assists, needing 35 more assists to tie Sydney Palka for ninth in program history.
• This was the first meeting between Canisius and Stony Brook since 2004, when Stony Brook swept the Blue and Gold in the Western New York Invitational on Sept. 4.
• The Griffs are now 0-5 in their last five meetings with Stony Brook. The previous four matches were all sweeps by the Seawolves.
• This is the first time the Golden Griffins were able to go more than three sets against Stony Brook since Sept. 18, 1999, a 3-1 loss to the Seawolves.
Quote from Coach Vazquez:
“Both teams battled to get a win today. We made more errors and that was the difference. But again, like against Akron, we had better overall stats.”
Up Next:
Canisius travels to Kalamazoo, Mich., next weekend to play in the Delta Hotel by Marriott Kalamazoo Conference Center Tournament. The Golden Griffins open up on Sept. 7 with a 4:30 p.m. match against Milwaukee. The Griffs play tournament host Western Michigan on Sept. 8 at 10 a.m. before closing their non-conference schedule against Loyola Chicago in a 4:30 p.m. tilt.
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