Junior Michelle LeSouder had a match-high 31 kills Saturday.

NIAGARA UNIVERSITY, N.Y. – Junior Michelle LeSouder (Stratford, Ont.) and Erin Graham (Oakville, N.Y./Oakville Alabama) both had over 20 kills each, but it wasn’t enough as the Niagara University volleyball team (7-17, 5-4) lost its final regular-season match of the year, 25-30, 30-24, 26-30, 22-30 at Canisius College (11-15, 4-5) Saturday in the Koessler Athletic Center.

LeSouder had a match-high 31 kills and hit .356 for the match. Graham collected 21 kills and 12 digs while hitting .283. Junior Micole Daluisio (Lancaster, N.Y./Lancaster) had a match-high 24 digs and sophomore Jessica Piscitelli (Baldwinsville, N.Y.) added 14 digs.

Canisius was led by Christina Wildes with 27 kills and 17 digs. Mary Boller had 16 kills and Kim Hoffman 15 kills.

In game one, Niagara took an 8-3 lead, but Canisius put together a 12-5 run to take the lead, 18-17. The Golden Griffins continued its run to take an eight-point lead, 29-21. Niagara scored the next four points on a pair of kills from Graham, a Wachob kill and a Canisius error, but Wildes finished with the kill for Canisius.

Niagara tied the match in game two by hitting .400. The Purple Eagles jumped out to a 13-8 lead behind seven kills from LeSouder. Canisius responded with a 10-8 run to pull within three points, 21-18. LeSouder then had the next five kills to make it 26-20. Graham then nailed four more kills, including the final kill. LeSouder finished the game with 14 kills.

The Purple Eagles trailed 2-1 after three when Canisius used a 10-6 run to finish the game. With the lead not more than five points throughout the game, Golden Griffins Boller & Hoffman had two kills each to fuel the run.

In game four with a tied score at 11, Canisius made a 12-2 run on four kills byHoffman and a pair from Boller. Niagara tied to make a comeback, outscoring the Golden Griffins 8-4 to pull within 26-21. Canisius capitalized on two Purple Eagle errors and got kills from Emily McNabb and Wildes to win the match.

Niagara hit .227 for the match and had 74 digs and nine team blocks. Canisius finished with a .290 hitting percentage, 61 digs and 12 team blocks.