By Maggie Tifft, Contributor
The Canisius volleyball team traveled to Iona University and Manhattan College this past weekend in hopes of keeping their postseason chances alive. However, a loss to the Gaels on Saturday sealed their fate, ensuring that this was the last weekend for the season.
The Griffs started their weekend at Iona on Saturday afternoon and came out hot, winning the first two sets. The game, however, ended up going to five sets, where Iona was able to take the win right out from underneath Canisius.
While the game left the team on a sour note, some key highlights came out of the loss for individual players. Ella Bourque recorded 41 assists on the day, a typical day for the Griffs star setter, while captain Jillian Hanna notched a high of five aces as well as 30 digs.
These individual successes helped rally the team for the second match of the weekend and final match of the season against Manhattan Sunday morning. The Griffs went all out in their final match, defeating the Jaspers for the 12th time in a row, winning in three sets. The clean sweep for Canisius was the perfect ending for the not-so-perfect season.
“A few hours after the match, we realized even if we had won that game, our chances were still gone. We knew we had to just go out the next day still and compete,” said head coach Tom Hanna.
Every eligible player made an appearance in the season closer, and many players made milestones. For fifth-year Ella Louissa, her final match was one of her bests. Against the Jaspers, Louissa was able to increase her hitting percentage from .500 to .611, as well as finish eighth for all-time total kills at Canisius.
“Those weekly awards are nice. They’re a snapshot of what success you have. We needed consistency, and when you have as many injuries as we did, it’s hard to practice what you compete against,” said coach Hannah. “We lacked consistency as a team. Our passing and serves improved, which is what we focused on all year.”
With the Griffs finishing the weekend 1–1 their season comes to an end. The Griffs’ final record was 10–16 overall and 8–10 in the conference. The team went 3–8 at home and 5–8 at different locations, but the team also went undefeated at neutral sites. Out of 26 games the Griffs had six three-game sweeps, two being against MAAC opponent Manhattan.