Michelle James

BUFFALO – The Niagara volleyball team defeated archrival Canisius in a five-set thriller (25-18,25-22, 21-25, 21-25,22-20) on Saturday night at the Koessler Center. Niagara ends the regular season with a program best 22 regular season wins. 

It was another classic and emotional encounter in the latest edition of the Battle of the Bridge series.  Niagara (22-8, 17-1 MAAC) takes a 7-4 lead in the 2010-11 battle for the Canal Cup into the winter sports season.  Niagara extended its program-best winning streak to 16 matches, which is the seventh longest streak in the nation.

Niagara had to come from behind in the first set after Canisius (15-15, 11-7 MAAC)jumped to an early lead on its senior day. A kill by Kathy Bibler forced Golden Griffins timeout with NU on 13-5 run and an 18-14 lead. Following the timeout, NU extended the run to 17-5 en route to a 25-18 first set win.

In the second set, the Purple Eagles found themselves in another close one in a set that featured 10 ties and four lead changes. NU was trailing 20-17, but went on a run after a timeout. With Canisius leading 22-20, the Purple Eagles scored five-straight points, including three kills by Kari Honomichl, to take the set.

Canisius rallied to win the next two sets with identical 25-21 scores. NU started the third set strong by jumping to a 4-1 start, but it was Canisius that would close the set with a 4-1 run and finished with its best hitting percentage on the night. In the fourth set, the Golden Griffins broke the 17-17 deadlock to eventually force the final set.

Kari Honomichl

NU took an 8-2 lead to start the fifth set behind strong servicing and attacking. However, Canisius countered with a 9-1 run and eventually served for the match on five different occasions, but was turned away each time.

Honomichl proved to be vital as she contributed three kills to bring Niagara level: at 15-15, 17-17 and 18-18. A kill by Amanda Wilken gave Niagara a 21-20 lead and a chance to serve for the win. Hannah Hedrick had her 18th and final kill with a smashing volley to the far corner for the win.

“Our outside hitters really played well for us and gave us some big kills when we needed them,” head coach Susan Clements said. “We did not communicated or serve well and we will need to work on that for the MAAC Tournament.”

Niagara had a season-high with 78 kills and 72 assists. Three Purple Eagles had double-doubles: Hedrick, Honomichl and Michelle James. Honomichl and Hedrick each had season-highs in kills with 26 and 18, respectively. James set a new career-high with 63 assists and had 10 digs. Wilken finished the match with 15 kills and Ellen Senf had nine kills. Sam Morgan finished with 22 digs to extend her double-digits digs streak to 92 matches, while Shannon Ryan had 13 digs to be the fourth Purple Eagle to have double-digits digs.

The Purple Eagles finished the regular season with their most wins and are one win shy of tying their program best of 23 wins which were set last season. The Purple Eagles’ 17-1 conference mark puts them tied for second for most conference wins in league history (Fairfield 18-0 in 2007).

Niagara will be the top seed in the 2010 MAAC Championship which will be played at the ESPN Wide World of Sports at Walt Disney World Resorts in Lake Buena Vista, Fla. The Purple Eagles’ first match will be on Thursday, Nov. 18 at 5 p.m. versus the winner of the No. 8 seed vs. No. 9 seed match.