The Quinnipiac Bobcats women’s volleyball team (2-28, 0-17 MAAC) head into the final weekend of the regular season looking to pick up their first win since Sept. 24. They hosted the Canisius Golden Griffins (8-18, 8-9 MAAC) in the first of their two weekend games.
A hot start is just what the Bobcats were looking for; as they’ve been struggling out of the gate all season. They were able to start strong today, and it gave the team some life early on and got the crowd in to the game.
The Golden Griffins battled back and about halfway through the first set, Burt Kahn Court quieted down and Canisius earned their first lead of the match.
Despite the relentless efforts from the Bobcats, they weren’t able to take the lead back. Not only could they not make up ground, but the lead for the Golden Griffins was increasing.
Sloppy play and a few misjudged shots was all it took for Canisius to swing the momentum in their favor and take a commanding 21-13 lead, and eventually the first set 25-17.
The Bobcats were able to put the first set loss behind them, and fought hard to get the early lead in the second set. The two sides duked it out, but no matter what either team did, neither team could pull away.
The score was in a bind coming down the backstretch of the second set, 20-20. But two quick points from the Golden Griffins led to Bobcats’ head coach Kristopher Czaplinski calling his final timeout.
Whatever Czaplinski said to his team in the huddle worked. They wasted no time in taking the lead back, and extended the game. Quinnipiac kept going up by a point, but surrendering the next one. The set refused to end, and the scores carried into the 30’s.
Huge kills and digs from freshman Sierra Dawson and sophomore Cody Michaels kept the Bobcats in the game, but double-hits and carries prevented them from winning. The Golden Griffins prevailed 36-34 to bring the head turning set to a close.
The Bobcats had their work cut out for them entering the third set, but they had no intention of rolling over. They were neck-and-neck for a while, but halfway through the set, the communication stopped. Quinnipiac’s assistant coach was encouraging from the bench to communicate more, but the message never got through. In a short manner of time the Bobcats fell into a hole, 22-15.
Canisius closed out the set with relative ease, 25-16, and the match 3-0.
Quinnipiac fought hard, but in the end wasn’t able to outhustle Canisius, who was a more solid team all-around today. They posted a .349 kill percentage, which nearly tripled that of the Bobcats (.143%).
The Bobcats will be playing there last regular season match of the year tomorrow against the Niagara Purple Eagles at Burt Kahn Court at 1 p.m.
