RIVERDALE, N.Y. - The Manhattan College volleyball team ran into a road block on Sunday afternoon, as Canisius (6-8, 3-1 MAAC) stuffed 16 Manhattan attempts (5-9, 1-3 MAAC) in a 25-21, 25-12, 19-25, 25-18 Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference (MAAC) victory at Draddy Gymnasium. The loss was Manhattan's third straight after opening conference play with a win, and the Lady Jaspers' fifth defeat in their last six matches.
The Lady Jaspers built an early 5-2 lead in the first set before Canisius rallied back to force a 9-9 tie. Manhattan scored the next two points to reclaim the lead, 11-9, but Canisius responded with a 6-0 run to take a 15-11 advantage. The Lady Jaspers got back within one when Maddie Heck's (Corte Madera, Calif.) kill made it 18-17. However, Manhattan would pull no closer. After the Lady Jaspers pulled within one at 22-21, Canisius scored the final three points of the set to claim a 25-21 win.
In the second set, Canisius pulled in front 7-2 and never looked back. After the Griffs extended their advantage to 12-4, the Lady Jaspers went on a 4-0 rally to pull within four, 12-8. Canisius responded rallied for six of the next seven points to extend its lead to nine at 18-9, and the Griffs claimed an easy 25-12 set win to take a 2-0 lead in the match.
Manhattan rebounded in a third set that featured nine ties and three lead changes. With the score knotted at 16-16, Jaci Rahey (West Milford, N.J.) slammed back-to-back kills to put Manhattan in front for good. The Griffs pulled back within one at 19-18, but the Lady Jaspers scored six of the final seven points to claim the set. Manhattan sealed the 25-19 win with consecutive Rita Welsh (Collegeville, Pa.) blocks. After hitting -.239 (five kills, 13 errors, 35 attempts) in the second set, Manhattan rebounded to hit .333 (17-3-42) in the third. Canisius, meanwhile, recorded just one block in the third set after stuffing five Manhattan attempts in each of the first two.
The Griffs took an early 5-2 advantage in the fourth set, but Manhattan responded with a 7-3 spurt to pull in front, 9-8. However, Canisius scored the next four points to regain a lead it wouldn't relinquish. After the Griffs extended their lead to 21-15, Manhattan scored three of the next four points to get back within four, 22-18. Canisius again responded, though, as the Griffs claimed the final three points to finish off the set, 25-18, and claim a 3-1 match victory.
Diane Strutner (San Jose, Calif.) had a match-high 19 kills and added 17 digs, as the Lady Jaspers outdug the Griffs 69-68. Rahey added 10 kills and nine digs, while Casey Tidwell (Redlands, Calif.) and Welsh each tallied five blocks. Aurore Kullak (Beloeil, Belgium) posted 11 digs and Julie Bies (Massapequa, N.Y.) notched 10 digs. Laura Bellotti (Dix Hills, N.Y.) handed out 29 assists to go along with eight digs. As a team, Manhattan hit .124 (48-29-153) in the match.
Canisius was led by Samantha Good, who recorded 17 kills and 12 blocks. Janelle Davis finished just shy of a triple-double, posting 39 assists to go along with nine digs and eight blocks. Davis also hit .556. Renee Lettow tallied 11 kills and nine digs, and Danielle Brawn registered a team-high 17 digs to go along with eight kills. Kaela Glenn had 15 digs and Allyson Severyn added 14 digs for Canisius. The Griffs hit .168 (47-22-149) as a team.
The match concluded a span where Manhattan played four out of five contests at Draddy Gymnasium. Now the Lady Jaspers hit the road for seven of their next eight, starting with a non-conference tilt at Lafayette (7-5) on Wednesday at 7 p.m. Manhattan resumes MAAC play with a visit to Fairfield (5-9, 3-0 MAAC) at 7 p.m. on Friday.
To follow Manhattan Athletics on Twitter visit Twitter.com/GoJaspers and on Facebook.com search "Manhattan Jaspers."