PITTSFORD, N.Y. – For the third consecutive season, the St. John Fisher College women's volleyball team will play for an Empire 8 Conference Championship when they travel to Hoboken, N.J. as Stevens Institute of Technology hosts the four-team tournament beginning on Saturday, November 3rd. The Cardinals, who earned the third seed overall, will play  second-seeded Nazareth at 2:30 p.m., while the host and top-seeded Stevens will take on No. 4 Alfred at 12 p.m.
License to Kill: Alea Steigerwald has been dominant since the start of the season, as the freshman recently broke the program's all-time mark for kills in a single season surpassing the leading total of 460 kills held since 1998 by Katy Stratton. Steigerwald has been a force both offensively and defensively for the Cardinals, currently leading the Empire 8 in points per set (4.65) while ranking second in kills per set (4.12). The Penfield native ranks second on the team in total digs with 394, service aces (51), and a .243 hitting percentage. The outside hitter was named Empire 8 Conference Rookie of the Week four times as well as the College's Female Athlete of the Week twice

Hot Streaks:The Cardinals racked up two quality winning streaks throughout the regular season including a four-match and six-match streaks.  The Cardinals' performance this season earned them a second-straight Empire 8 Conference matchup with East Avenue rival Nazareth. The team's 17 total victories in 2018 are its second-most in a regular season since the 2012 as Fisher posted 22 wins in 2017. 

Jack, Queen, King, ACE: Fisher has seen great success from the service line in 2018, as it finished the regular season first in the Empire 8 Conference in both total service aces with 278 and service aces per set at 2.55. Sophomore Rebecca Hay leads the Cardinals and the conference with 54 total service aces while Elise Kreuz trails slightly with 50 of her own. Aside from her success at the service line, Hay ranks third in the conference with 840 total assists and also has tallied 40 kills and 250 digs.

All-Around Success: Head Coach Kelly Greapentrog will make her fifth trip to the Empire 8 Conference Championship with a team who has had success from all class levels this season. Aside from Steigerwald, Julia Halsey has stepped in nicely in her first year in a Cardinal uniform with 26 starts to her credit and finishing the regular season ranked fifth on the team in kills with 94. Sophomore Bernadette Nichols stepped into a larger role for Fisher this season, posting 106 total kills as opposed to her lone kill from just a year ago. Izzy Smith has been a large part of the Fisher attack as a junior with 267 kills and 35 service aces this year. Senior Erica Pawlewicz has added 100 kills and a team-leading 27.0 blocks, while Kreuz has started almost every match at the libero position in her senior campaign, notching 524 digs, 82 assists, and 50 service aces. 

Scouting Nazareth: The Golden Flyers earned the second overall seed after posting a 7-1 conference mark in the regular season while finishing with an overall record of 21-12. Nazareth's offense led the Empire 8 throughout the regular season, ranking first in total kills (1,395), hitting percentage (.210), and total assists (1,294). Senior Kelsey Milligan leads the Golden Flyers with 271 kills and a .321 hitting percentage, while Delaney Martin led the conference in the regular season with 969 assists. Defensively, Nazareth was guided by libero Savannah Bothner with 410 digs, as well as Milligan with 92 total blocks. In the regular season, the Cardinals took Nazareth to five sets but fell short in the final set as the Golden Flyers took the victory.

Scouting Stevens: The Ducks earned the first overall seed and the right to host the conference championship for the sixth consecutive season with a perfect conference record of 8-0 and an overall record of 22-9. Stevens ranked second in the Empire 8 with 1,301 total kills and a .197 team hitting percentage. Sara Hain ranks second in the conference with a .324 hitting percentage throughout the regular season, while Elizabeth Chu leads the defense with conference-leading 627 total digs. During the regular season, the Fisher offense was the only team in the conference to take sets from the Ducks, the five-set thriller resulted in Stevens coming out on top inside Manning & Napier Gymnasium.

Scouting Alfred: The Saxons round out the championship field of four and earned the fourth seed after finishing the regular season with a 5-3 Empire 8 mark and an overall record of 7-20. Junior Amber Smith leads Alfred this season with 380 total kills, while ranking second in the conference with 4.46 points per set. Sara Huzyk leads the Saxons' defense with 344 digs on the year, while Amanda Burns has handled the setting duties and has notched 736 total assists. The regular season saw a straight-set victory for the Cardinals as they outscored Alfred, 76 to 57 in a straight set-victory.

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