CANISIUS COLLEGE ATHLETICS
BUFFALO, N.Y. — The Canisius volleyball team opens the 2018 season Friday when it travels to the CSU Invitational for three matches at the Woodling Gymnasium in Cleveland, Ohio.
Scouting Canisius
• Heading into the third season of head coach Lenika Vazquez‘s tenure, Canisius welcomes back nine letterwinners from its 2017 squad that finished with a 10-18 record overall and an 8-10 ledger in MAAC play.
• The Blue and Gold return three seniors, including Sofia Lopez Acosta and Sara Wesley, both of whom played in all 100 sets last season.
• The four rising juniors are led by Cassidy Ceriani, who currently sits tenth in program history with 1689 career assists through two seasons.
• Andrea Diaz Lopez and Tamia Bowden make up the sophomore returnees, both looking to take a second-year leap.
• The six newcomers are all freshman, the largest incoming class for the Blue and Gold since 1998.
Wesley Named Preseason All-MAAC Team
• Senior Sara Wesley was named to the Preseason All-MAAC Team as a middle hitter on Monday.
• Wesley led the conference in hitting percentage with a .309 clip last season and finished ninth in the MAAC with 2.61 kills per set.
• Her accomplishments last season earned her a spot on the 2017 All-MAAC Second Team.
• She is the first Golden Griffin to be named to the Preseason All-MAAC Team since outside hitter Katlyn Tyler in 2016.
Scouting Our Opponents
• Montana State finished last season 10-15 overall with a 6-10 mark in the Big Sky Conference. The Bobcats enter their first campaign under head coach Daniel Jones.
• Glenn Kiriyama enters his 20th season as the head coach of Binghamton, finishing last year with a 12-15 overall mark and 8-4 in America East play. The Bearcats advanced to the 2017 America East Championship match, losing to Stony Brook.
• Cleveland State enters head coach Chuck Voss’ 19th season as the three-time defending champion of the Horizon League, coming off a 22-8 run that saw them go 13-3 in Horizon League matches before losing to Utah in the First Round of the 2017 NCAA Tournament.
Up Next
• Canisius continues its season-opening tournament play next weekend, returning to Ohio to take part in the Akron Invitational. The Griffs will play host Akron on Sept. 1 at 9:30 a.m. before taking on Maryland at 4:30 p.m. that same day. They close out the tournament with a noon start on Sept. 2 against 2017 America East champion Stony Brook.
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