SCORE: Canisius 3, Niagara 1 (18-25, 28-26, 25-19, 25-22)
RECORDS: Canisius (8-14, 6-6 MAAC), Niagara (13-8, 9-3 MAAC)

BUFFALO, N.Y. – The Niagara University volleyball team had its seven-match regular season win streak against rival Canisius snapped in a four-set defeat on Thursday night.

Match Summary
Niagara seized control of the first set by reeling off seven straight points to take a 13-9 lead. The Purple Eagles led by as much as seven points on their way to the first set win. NU had 15 kills, including five from Jaycie Roberts, and was 15-for-18 (.833) on sideouts.

The second set featured nine ties and five lead changes. Trailing 6-4, a block by Grace Hetterscheidt started a 7-1 run by Niagara. The Purple Eagles led 15-10 when Canisius went back in front thanks to a 9-3 run. The Golden Griffins were serving for set point at 24-22, before Niagara scored three straight points – a block by Nicole Matheis and Grace Hetterscheidt, an error, and an ace by Alexis Gray - for a 25-24 lead. With the set tied at 26-26, consecutive attacking errors handed Canisius the set.

Canisius used a .406 hitting percentage to pull out the third set, 25-19. The Golden Griffins broke a 9-9 tie with an 8-2 run. Niagara immediately answered with three straight points to force a timeout. Canisius came out of the timeout scoring four of the next five points to stymie NU's comeback effort.

The fourth set was tightly contested with eight ties and five lead changes. Trailing 13-9, Niagara rallied to take a 16-15 lead. However, with the set tied at 18-18, the Golden Griffins scored three straight points and held off NU late to pull out a 25-22 fourth set win.

Eagle's Eye On…

• Alexis Gray had three aces to become the career leader in aces with 155, passing Kari Honomichl's total of 154. Gray also tied a season-high with 19 assists.
• Draik Banks led NU with 14 kills on match-best .571 hitting percentage. The .571 hitting percentage ties a team season-high which was set by Banks against NJIT.
• Meghan Highley led the team with 27 assists and added eight digs.  
• Reigning MAAC Rookie of the Week Jaycie Roberts had 11 digs and nine kills
• Reigning MAAC Libero of the Week Rylee Hunt had a match-high 28 digs.
• Nicole Matheis had 11 kills and eight digs.  

Inside The Numbers

• Niagara suffered its first defeat to Canisius since losing in the 2014 MAAC Tournament fifth place match and this is Niagara's first regular season defeat to the Golden Griffins since the 2013 season.
• NU is 16-4 in its last 20 matches against Canisius, including 7-2 in the last nine matches at Canisius.  
• Niagara had its three-match overall win streak come to an end.

Up Next

• The Purple Eagles host Iona (Saturday) and Manhattan (Sunday) for their final home weekend of the season.

 
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