BOX SCORE

Rachael Kline surpassed the 1,000 kill plateau as the St. John Fisher College volleyball team went the distance, Friday night but was unable to come away with a win as the Cardinals fell to conference foe, Ithaca College at the Empire 8 Crossover hosted by Nazareth College.

Fisher slides to 13-15 overall and 2-3 in the Empire 8 standings, while Ithaca improves to 12-18 with a 3-2 conference record.

Fisher would open play with a hard-fought win in the first frame, narrowly holding off the Bombers to earn the 27-25 win.

Kline would reach the milestone in the second set, as her 1,000^th kill brought Fisher within one at 15-14.  The Cardinals and Bombers would exchange points for much of the set with Ithaca scoring the final two points to break a 24-24 tie to earn the win in the process.

Fisher looked to regain momentum in the third, scoring seven of the set's first 10 points.  The lead would be short-lived, however as Ithaca would cut into Fisher's lead, scoring 12 of the next 16 points to bring the Bombers to within one, forcing Fisher to call a timeout to regroup.  It would be Ithaca however, that continued to find the mark, taking a 20-18 lead requiring the Cardinals to use yet another timeout.  Two quick kills by Lauren Rokjer and Paige Willson seemed to turn the tide though as Fisher stormed back to take a 22-21 lead.  Willson came up huge down the stretch, clubbing four kills to put the Cardinals ahead for good, 25-22.

Ithaca would open up a quick lead in the fourth stanza, but the Cardinals battled back to tie the score at 10-10.  The Bombers would retake the lead, scoring five unanswered points to stretch the lead to 15-10.  The Cardinals would make it close, clawing their way to within two points at 23-21, but Ithaca would hang on to force a fifth and deciding set.

In the final frame, The Bombers held the early momentum, but The Cardinals wouldn't go away quietly.  Fisher would rally, forcing Ithaca to call a timeout as the Cardinals battled back from down 9-3 to tie the set at 13-13 on a kill from Willson, but it was not to be as Ithaca held on for the 16-14 win.

Willson tallied 14 kills, while teammate Mandi Mereness smashed eight.  Kline contributed nine kills to go along with two service aces and four blocks.  Erica Stickler notched 22 helpers in the match and Andrea Gillespie had a game-high 30 digs. 

Fisher will continue play at the Empire 8 Crossover with two matches on Saturday. The Cardinals will have a 10 a.m. match against Utica College followed by a 3 p.m. contest against host, Nazareth College.