The St. John Fisher College volleyball program's Empire 8 Championship aspirations took a major blow on Friday, as the Cardinals lost 3-2 (25-18, 20-25, 23-25, 25-20, 15-8) to Elmira College and suffered a 3-0 defeat to host Ithaca College later in the evening.

In the Elmira match, Becca Smith led the Cardinals with 17 digs and 16 kills, while Amy Street finished with 42 assists.  As a team, the Cardinals were plagued by 30 attack errors.

Fisher (16-13, 2-4) will return to action on Saturday and will play Hartwick College and Rochester Institute of Technology.