NEW ROCHELLE, NY –The Iona College volleyball team dropped a hard fought five set decision to Canisius in Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference action at the Hynes Center. The Gaels rallied from two sets down to force a deciding fifth set and outscored the Golden Griffs 111-110 overall.
Four Gaels recorded 10 or more kills and three recorded double-doubles in the loss. Freshman OH Amanda Gannon posted a season-high 18 kills and 16 digs for her first collegiate double-double. She hit .333 with two blocks. Junior MH Karly White continued a dominant weekend with 17 kills on 32 attempts for a .531 hitting percentage. For the weekend she was 26-for-49 on attack attempts with no errors, hitting a stellar .531. White’s kill total matched a career-best set last season at Siena while also posting a team-high four blocks. Freshman MH Mia Bonsignore also had a career-best kill total and hitting percentage recording 14 at a .423 clip. Rookie OH Claire Archibald and senior setter Natalie Ziskin recorded their team-best second double-doubles of the year. Archibald had 13 kills and 16 digs.
Ziskin posted a career-high 63 assists and added 10 digs in the loss. The assist total was the third highest in school history and just the fourth with more than 60 in the last 15 seasons. She was shy of Emily Mansur’s record 72 at Canisius on Nov. 8, 2003 and Beth Holly’s 64 at Texas A&M-Corpus Christi on Oct. 1, 2005. Caris Myles last reached the 60 assist mark four years ago on Sep. 3, 2011 vs. Kent State.
Freshman libero Jessica Paolucci led the Maroon & Gold with 24 digs in the match, one shy of a season-high.
Canisius’ Katlyn Tyler had 18 kills and 17 digs, Lauren Siebert had 17 kils, and Jacklyn Malusa added 14 kills and 11 digs for the visitors. Setter Grace Streicher had 49 assists and 14 digs while libero Jordan Tylec had 22 digs in the win.
The Golden Griffins faced three Iona set points in the opener before squeaking by 28-26. They also won the second set by the minimum 25-23 to take a two-set advantage heading into the break. Iona’s 5-0 run with the score knotted at 8-8 in the third set gave the home team a lead for good as Canisius could not get within three points the rest of the way in a 25-21 set win. The Maroon & Gold won the fourth set by the same score erasing a five-point, 17-12 deficit with a 13-4 run to close the frame. In the fifth, Iona was the first to eight points, leading 8-6, but Canisius scored six of the next seven points and held on for the 15-12 win in the decider.
Iona continues MAAC action at home next Saturday (Oct. 3) vs. Manhattan.