PITTSFORD, N.Y. – The St. John Fisher College women's volleyball team fell to the SUNY Cortland Red Dragons on Tuesday evening inside Manning & Napier Gymnasium in non-conference action 24-26, 22-25, 20-25. With the loss, the Cardinals move to 15-14 overall on the season, while the Red Dragons improve to 11-17 in 2018.

Prior to the start of the match, Fisher honored its senior student-athletes as the Cardinals recognized Elise Kreuz, Tori Laratonda, and Erica Pawlewicz for their contributions to the women's volleyball program.

Both teams battled back-and-forth for most of the first set, exchanging scoring runs to try and gain the early momentum. After a kill from Izzy Smith, Fisher tied the game up at 15-15, but Cortland was able to open up a six-point scoring run to earn a late advantage.

However after a Fisher timeout called by Head Coach Kelly Greapentrog, the Cardinals battled back to tie the game up at 24-24 with the help of Rebecca Hay at the service line and a huge block from Alea Steigerwald and Olivia Levulis.

From there, the Red Dragons used a timeout of their own to regain composure and finish off the first set with their ninth kill of the opening set.

Fisher got hot quickly in the second set, jumping out to an early 6-0 lead with Hay again at the service line. The Cardinals continued to keep the pressure on, as Steigerwald and Levulis again led the offensive attack, pushing Fisher ahead 15-7.

Much like the first set, Cortland battled its way back with a pair of scoring runs eventually leading to an 18-17 Cardinal lead. After a Bernadette Nichols kill put Fisher ahead by two, the Red Dragons scored six unanswered points, pulling ahead late to take home the second set victory.

The third set saw both teams trade points back-and-forth, with a Steigerwald kill giving Fisher an early 10-9 advantage. A number of scoring runs by both teams ensued, until the scoreboard eventually read 20-20 late in the set.

A kill from Smith put Fisher up by one, however, Cortland used its serving to its advantage again and rattled off five straight points to earn the non-conference win.

The four-time Empire 8 Rookie of the Week Steigerwald led the Cardinals with 11 kills, while Levulis and Smith each added seven kills. Hay handled the setting duties notching 24 assists with Kreuz pitching in a team-high 22 digs.

The Cardinals return to action on Friday at 5 p.m. when they travel to RIT to take on Lycoming College to open up the RIT Invitational.