9/2: A pre-holiday edition of GRIFFinfo today as the school year is officially in full swing. The first day of class was on Monday and the Koessler Athletic Center is much busier than it has been during the past few months. Physicals, academics, undergraduate and graduate class, Work Study interviews, in-season practices, conditioning sessions and weight room workouts are some of the activities taking place in the building.

• Kevin Mailloux had an extremely hot month of August (reaching base in more than 20 consecutive games) and leads the Northwest League with 15 home runs, 61 runs and is second with 50 RBI and a .942 OPS. Here's an article about Mailloux from the month of August.

• Kevin Mahoney has taken advantage of his promotion to the Charleston RiverDogs of the South Atlantic League. Mahoney was hitting .276 in 38 games with Staten Island of the New York-Penn League and since moving up to Charleston, Mahoney is hitting .305 with an .882 OPS in 25 games with Charleston.
• Also, former Griffs Steve McQuail is hitting .246 with the Auburn Doubledays of the New York-Penn League and had a three-hit game on Aug. 27.

Former Canisius men's basketball player Darren Fenn will return to the Artland Dragons of the Basketball Bundsliga, the top professional men's basketball league in Germany. Fenn led the Dragons in scoring last season, averaging 15.1 points per game while shooting 58 percent from the field and 80.5 percent from the free-throw line. Artland's season is set to begin Oct. 29. We'll have updates on other Canisius basketball alumni throughout the year.

• From the news wire - Here's a profile on former Griff John Axford in the USA Today. Axford has taken a hold of the closer's role in Milwaukee and hasn't let go.
• The Canisius volleyball team starts its season at Noon today. The Griffs will play three matches in the Hofstra Invitational before playing one match at St. Francis (N.Y.) on Sunday. The Griffs only graduated two seniors, but there are a lot of new faces on that team who will get some early playing time.
• As mentioned earlier, Canisius women's soccer starts the home schedule tonight against St. Francis (Pa.). The Griffs are 19-8-1 all-time in home openers at the Demske and 2-0-0 in home openers under third-year coach Jim Wendling. Canisius is 4-0-0 in its last four home matches against St. Francis (Pa.).
  

8/16: Back for another week of GRIFFinfo. After a very hot and humid week in Western New York for the start of volleyball and women's soccer camp, the weather seems to have broken and will be in the upper 70s and less humid this week. Men's soccer reported to camp over the weekend and cross country is hitting the trails soon.

• From the news wire - Canisius alum John Eckel has been named the head athletic trainer at Whitman College, which is located in the fantastic city name of Walla, Walla, Wash.
  
  Here's your Minor League Baseball update:

• Kevin Mailloux (Everett Aquasox) is hitting .450 in the last 10 games with 17 runs scored, seven home runs and 13 RBI. Here's an article on Mailloux's hot streak.
• Steve McQuail (Auburn Doubledays) is on a five-game hitting streak and is hitting .370 during the last eight games with seven runs scored, two HR and five RBI with a .951 OPS.
  
• Kevin Mahoney (Charleston RiverDawgs) is hitting .282 on the season, having played at four different levels throughout the season.

8/11: With two Canisius athletics teams (women's soccer and volleyball) on the practice field for the beginning of Fall Camp today, it's time to resurrect our GRIFFinfo blog. After we started the blog last year, it fell off throughout the year. We're going to give it a try again and promise to be more dedicated throughout the school year.

• Both of those teams reported on Tuesday, having some meetings and getting the physicals completed. The meetings took place in the new team meeting room on the second floor of the Koessler Athletic Center. That room, along with a number of new coaches' offices, is located above the Center for Athletic Training. We'll have some photos of the new construction in the near future.

• The volleyball team got in the gym last night and both teams are in full swing today. As with every fall camp, it always seems to be hot and humid at this time of year. The women's soccer team started at 8 am this morning, including a conditioning test of a two-mile run. Team previews of all the fall teams will be online in the coming weeks.

• The men's basketball team is holding offensive skills camp this week in the Koessler Athletic Center. A number of players are serving as counselors for the dozens of campers. Junior Rokas Gricius is a counselor for the second straight week after working the women's basketball camp last week.

• Fifty-nine days until the first Canisius-Niagara meeting in a Battle of the Bridge contest.

• If you have any tips, e-mail GRIFFinfo.

Sophomore Layne Adams recently sat down with GoGriffs.com to give us some insight on herself and the Canisius volleyball team.

1. Best thing about playing volleyball at Canisius?
The best thing is that our team is really close, maybe even a little too close. I know they always have my back and I always have their back. It’s a great feeling to have.

2. Hardest thing about playing volleyball for Canisius?
Being a college athlete in general forces you to sacrifice a lot. My friends and family might get mad that I don’t spend as much time with them but nothing beats training for a MAAC championship.

3. What is your favorite quote from Coach Hummel?
“My nana can play better than you.” That one never gets old. I’d love to meet the woman.

4. Any pregame rituals/superstitions?
Before games you can find our team having danceoffs in the locker room. It gets pretty competitive once Miley Cyrus starts playing. And the only superstition I really have is I refuse to get new active ankles. I’ve had them for six years, they are dirty, and not even the same color, but I refuse to trade them in for new ones.

5. If you were asked to spend the day teaching volleyball to anyone, who would be your choice and why?
There is this movie that MTV made about volleyball called “All You Got.” I would love to meet the director just to inform him that if he’s going to make a movie about volleyball, he should probably know that the libero can’t hit front row.

6. What is the best game for fighting off boredom on road trips?
Our team plays the Animal game. It’s hard to explain, but it’s amazing.

7. If you could be an animal for a day, what would you choose and why?
I would be a raccoon for sure! I think they are just the cutest things. I know people think they are filthy, but if you could have one as a pet, I’d be the first in line.

8. Describe your ideal day – where would you be and who would you spend it with?
My ideal day would definitely be at the beach. If Terrell Owens showed up, I wouldn’t complain.

9. Who is the best dresser on the team?
Jasmine Brennan. She’s classy.

10. What do you miss about home?
I miss being around my brothers. I didn’t realize how much I needed them around until I was seven hours away.