Canisius Comes Back To Defeat QU Volleyball In Five

Sunday, November 6

Buffalo, NY

1:00 PM

Quinnipiac University

19-11, 11-6

Canisius College

7-18, 5-11

Quinnipiac

Canisius

Canisius Comes Back To Defeat QU Volleyball In Five

11/6/2016 3:29:00 PM | Women's Volleyball

Box Score

By: QU Sports Information

BUFFALO, N.Y. – The Quinnipiac volleyball team dominated the first two sets, but Canisius regrouped after intermission to come from behind and take a 3-2 win over the Bobcats on Sunday afternoon at the Koessler Athletic Center.

Set scores were 16-25, 17-25, 25-23, 25-23, 16-14 as the Golden Griffins pulled the upset to improve to 7-18 overall and 5-11 in the MAAC. Quinnipiac slips to 19-11 overall and 11-6 in the MAAC with the loss.

Quinnipiac had a balanced offense with five players in double figures in kills, led by freshman Natalie Alechko (Old Tappan, N.J. - pictured) with 14. Junior middle hitter Elizabeth Kloos (Munster, Ind.) and senior middle hitter Allison Leigh (Palmer, Alaska) each had 13, while sophomore outside hitters Kat Miller (Collegeville, Pa.) and Jen Coffey (Merrimack, N.H.) each had 12. Alechko (14 kills, 14 digs) and Miller (12 kills, 13 digs) each had double-doubles in the losing effort.

Canisius used an early 6-0 run to take control of the fifth set, surging ahead 6-1. Two straight Alechko kills got Quinnipiac within 9-7, and the teams then exchanged points until the Bobcats used a 5-1 run, capped by two straight kills from Leigh, to tie the score 13-13. A Canisius kill created a match point, but Coffey erased it with a solo block to tie the score 14-14. After the Golden Griffins earned a second match point on a Carly Shifflet kill, Leigh just missed the sideline with a bid to tie it back up, as the Golden Griffins earned the dramatic home win.

The Bobcats appeared on their way to a quick three-set win after taking the first two sets 25-16, 25-17. Quinnipiac roared out to a quick 7-1 lead in the first set, as Leigh had three blocks and a kill in a 6-0 run after the score was tied 1-1. The Bobcats built lead up to 11 points at 16-5 on a kill from Kloos, and eventually took the set 25-16 on another Kloos kill, which was set up by senior setter Jana Kmec (Stratford, Conn.).

The second set saw Quinnipiac build up its lead more gradually. After Canisius led 5-3, a 6-0 run capped off by a Leigh kill, gave the Bobcats a 9-5 lead. The teams traded points through the middle of the set, but Quinnipiac then essentially finished it off with a 4-0 run to make the score 23-14. Kloos earned her second straight set-winning kill, giving the Bobcats a 25-17 win and a 2-0 lead.

After intermission, Canisius flipped the script and jumped out to a quick 7-2 lead in the third set to force an early Bobcat timeout. The Golden Griffins led by as many as seven (18-11) and Quinnipiac wasn't able to sustain momentum until it was a little bit too late. The Bobcats fought off three set points, the first two on a kill and a block from Leigh, to cut it to 24-23, but Canisius called a timeout and got the set-winning kill to stay in the match 25-23.

Quinnipiac led the fourth set 14-10, before the Golden Griffins went on an 8-0 run to take an 18-14 advantage. After being down 22-17, the Bobcats were able to close to 23-22, but Canisius bounced back to take two of the next three points to win the fourth set 25-23 on a Shifflet kill, setting up the fifth set dramatics.

Leigh had eight blocks to go with her 13 kills, increasing her Quinnipiac school record at the Division I level to 159, after breaking the old record of 145 yesterday at Niagara. Freshman setter Maria Pansari (Whitehouse Station, N.J.) had 50 assists for the seventh time in her rookie season, while senior defensive specialist Cody Michaels (Versailles, Ky.) had 12 digs to raise her career total to 977, needing 23 to reach 1000 with at least two matches left to play. Jaclyn Malusa led all players with 16 kills for Canisius.

Quinnipiac will be back in action next weekend when it travels to face Fairfield for a 1 p.m. contest. Fairfield is currently undefeated in the MAAC at 17-0 after defeating Niagara in five sets today, and Quinnipiac will likely need to a win over the Stags to get the second seed and earn a bye in the MAAC Tournament, which will be held at Fairfield on Nov. 18-20.