(Standish, Maine)-The SUNY Canton women's volleyball team continued their strong inaugural season as a four-year athletic program as they captured the Sunrise Conference Championship Friday night at St. Joseph's College in Standish, Maine.

The Roos (16-7) now advance to the NAIA National Championship starting on November 30 in Columbia, Missouri.

On Friday, SUNY Canton put on dominating performance as they swept No. 4 University of Maine at Fort Kent 3-0 (30-8, 30-11, 30-12) and then downed No. 2 University of Maine at Machias 30-24, 30-18 and 30-16 to win the championship. Machias beat No. 3 Paul Smith's College in the other semifinal 30-14, 30-22 and 30-25.

In game one of the championship match, the Roos jumped out to a 9-1 lead. The Clippers called a timeout and then outscored the Roos 7-3 to pull within 11-8. Nicole Rishe (Evans Mills, N.Y.) had three straight service points to widen the lead again for SUNY Canton and then the sophomore helped the Roos take a 21-13 lead after a nice dig and a kill. The Roos won the first game when Machias hit a ball out of bounds on game point.

In the second game, the Clippers came out strong with a 5-3 lead. The Roos answered with eight straight points to go up by six. Following some strong serving from Brittany Hains (Mexico, N.Y.) the Roos eventually opened up a 25-13 lead and then closed out the game on an ace from Sharlie McLean (Massena, N.Y.).

In the final game, the score was close through the first combined 15 points before SUNY Canton slowly pulled away to a 19-10 lead. Back-to-back kills from Alicia Abbey (Mayville, N.Y.) and Val Bova (Central Square, N.Y.) made the score 25-12 and then the Roos closed out the match and won the championship in their first year in the conference.

For both matches, Abbey had 30 digs and 22 kills. Bova recorded 24 digs, 19 kills and two blocks. Rishe had 13 kills, 13 digs and three aces. Hains distributed 28 assists and had 19 digs and six aces and McLean chipped in with 16 kills and 12 aces.

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