NIAGARA UNIV., N.Y. – The Niagara volleyball team set a program record with nine straight victories in a convincing straight set win (25-13, 25-10, 25-16) over archrival the Canisius Golden Griffins on Wednesday night at the Gallagher Center. Niagara is up 3-0 in the 2010- 11 Battle of the Bridge series with Canisius.

The 82^nd all-time match between the programs was the inaugural “dig pink” match in an effort to bring awareness to breast cancer; both teams wore pink jerseys and donations were made to Mount St. Mary’s Breast Care Center.

The tone of the match was set early by Niagara (15-8, 10-1 MAAC). The Purple Eagles sprinted to a 9-0 lead in the first set and never looked back. The lead swelled to 14-2 after senior Shannon Ryan had one of her three service aces. Junior Hannah Hedrick ended the first set with a kill to give NU a 25-13 win.

“It felt good for us to start out really strong,” head coach Susan Clements said.   “In the past couple of matches it took us awhile to get in the groove, so we wanted to set a precedent tonight.”

Niagara had a match-best .520 hitting percentage, while holding Canisius to a -.103 hitting percentage, in the second set en route to cruising to a 25-10 win. NU ended the set on a 12- 4 run and freshman Ellen Senf had seven of her match-high 12 kills in the set.

The Purple Eagles benefited from another fast start in the third set. NU accelerated to a 10-2 lead, with Ryan and sophomore Kari Honomichl combining for five of the points. The closet the Golden Griffins crept to was six points and junior Michelle James had the honor to score the final point to seal the victory.

Niagara had arguably its best performance of the season in a match that set the program win streak, which was set last season, to nine matches. Niagara had a season-high .389 team hitting percentage and held the conference best hitting percentage squad to .021 percent.

Senf had a Purple Eagle season-high with a .647 hitting percentage. Honomichl provided 11 kills and three digs, sophomore middle blocker Amanda Wilken had nine kills and had four blocks and Hedrick had seven kills and 13 digs. James recorded her seventh double-double of the season with a match-high 36 assists and 12 digs. Junior Sam Morgan collected 14 digs to extend her NCAA-best double-digit digs streak to 85 matches.

The Purple Eagles will continue their homestand this weekend when they play Saint Peter’s and Manhattan.

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