BUFFALO, N.Y. – The Niagara Purple Eagles had to rally from a set down and survive a fifth set to defeat rival Canisius, 25-17, 25-19, 19-25, 22-25, 15-6, on Saturday. The Purple Eagles have now won 10 of the last 12 meetings in the series.

The latest match between the rival schools went to five sets for the first time since 2010, as like that meeting, the Purple Eagles (6-10, 2-3 MAAC) came away victorious.

"This was a hard fought victory for the team," head coach Vilis Ozols said.  "I thought it was a complete effort on the part of both our defense, which made spectacular play after spectacular play, and our offense did a wonderful job of converting those plays into points. There were so many memorable plays for each player today that it's hard to single out anyone student-athlete.  It was a nice complete emotional win."  

Rayenne Hale had her second straight stellar performance to lead Niagara with 18 kills to set career-highs in kills in consecutive matches. Three Purple Eagles had double-doubles in the match. Amanda Sedore had 17 kills and 12 digs for her team-leading sixth double-double, Nicole Matheis had 12 kills and 10 digs and Alexis Gray set a career-high in a conference match with 52 assists and had 13 digs for her fifth straight match with a double-double.

Niagara trailed in the opening set 17-10 when a kill by Matheis started a 6-1 run to cut the deficit to 18-16. However, Canisius (2-12, 2-3 MAAC) responded with a 5-0 run on its way to winning the first set 25-17.

Niagara bounced back with a vengeance in the second set. NU used strong serving and blocking to sprint to a 7-1 lead.  After the Griffs brought the score to 13-10, NU hit back with a 4-1 run to take a 17-11 lead.  Canisius would score five of the next seven points, though; NU reeled off four straight points as it took the second set, 25-17. Matheis led the team with five kills in the set, while Sedore, Alex Stone and Hale all had four kills. The Purple Eagles finished the set hitting .463 with 20 kills and one error.

Niagara had another great start to open a set on its way to winning the third set. The Purple Eagles jumped on Canisius to take an 8-2 lead to force a timeout. NU would then withstand runs by Canisius. The Golden Griffins cut the margin to 15-13, but a kill by Sedore started a 4-0 spurt. Niagara's lead was cut to 22-19 when the Purple Eagles scored the final three points to win the set.

However, Canisius forced the deciding set behind a strong start to the fourth set. Canisius went up 7-1 and led the entire set, even though Niagara trimmed the lead to 24-21.

Niagara used the momentum from the late push to conclude the fourth set to surpass Canisius in the fifth set. After falling behind 2-0, the Purple Eagles went on a 9-1 run including scoring five straight points as NU would win the match on an ace by Sedore. NU had 10 kills and no errors in the set with a sparkling .667 hitting percentage.

The Purple Eagles lead the Battle of the Bridge series 3-0 after two competitions.

Niagara continues its road journey next weekend at Manhattan (Saturday) and Iona (Sunday).