By Stephen Lapage, Contributor
Coming off of two road wins, the Canisius volleyball team looked to keep their momentum as they started their homestand. The Griffs hosted Marist and Siena in hopes of climbing the MAAC standings.
Canisius began their homestand against Marist, playing a Saturday match. The Griffs started off the match strong as they beat Marist 27–25 in the first set to give Canisius the early lead. Marist came out firing after the first set, winning each of the next three sets and winning the match 3–1 at its conclusion. While both teams battled, the Griffs were never able to score more than 20 points in any of the sets following the first one.
Junior Kara Zaucha led the Griffs offense with 12 kills in the game, while freshman Lauren Hubert had 11. Junior Jillian Hanna grabbed 21 digs defensively and had a career-high four service aces. Sophomore Ella Bourque tallied 31 kills for Canisius and freshman Kalia Reisma had seven total blocks. Graduate student Ella Loussia recorded her 1,050th kill, which moved her past Shannon Zaranek to 10th all time on the school’s career kills list.
The Griffs looked to fight back as they took on Siena in their Sunday match. Cansius started strong, winning the first set by a score of 25–11. Siena came out strong in the second set, beating the Griffs by a score of 25–22. From there, Canisius won the next two sets, giving the Griffs a 3–1 win. After the second set, Canisius held Siena to no more than 20 points in a set.
The Griffs were led by Zaucha who notched 10 kills and 18 digs and Loussia who had 17 kills and 14 digs. Hubert added 13 kills of her own in the match. Loussia also led the team in blocks with four, while Bourque collected 47 assists in the win to climb the conference rankings.
“As we make the push for the MAAC tournament, having more fans brings our energy up and I think it's something that really helps us pull out some wins in crucial moments against big teams,” said Zaucha about the win.
This weekend the Griffs host Fairfield and Quinnipiac on Saturday and Sunday, respectively, at noon. While both teams got the best of the Griffs in their last matchup, the team is ready to battle.
“I think definitely we're a different team than we were a month ago, mentally I mean, physically as well,” said Zaucha about their weekend coming up. “They got the best of us a month ago but it’s not going to be the same story this time around. I think, in practice, having that mentality that these are the two teams sitting at conference rankings right now, [a win] would be absolutely huge.”