BUFFALO, N.Y. – The St. John Fisher College men's volleyball team fell in a five set thriller on Tuesday night to Medaille College 23-25, 21-25, 31-29, 25-21, 12-15. The Cardinals fall to 6-4 overall on the young season, while the Mavericks improve to 1-3 overall.

Ben De La Cruz was on fire in all five of the sets Tuesday evening. The Brighton native finished with a game and season-high 32 kills in the match, while hitting a whopping .385 on 52 total attempts. The freshman opposite hitters seemed to put the ball away from all spots on the floor, which included 10 of his kills coming in the third set alone. Along with his offense, De La Cruz finished with two service aces, two block solos, and 37.0 points.

The Cardinals eventually fell in the first set 25-23 after a late four point Maverick run. The second set also saw a number of Maverick runs, as they were able to take a two sets to none advantage.

Fisher stormed back in the third in front of a loud crowd, winning the very exciting third set 31-29. The Cardinals trailed in the set 22-18 and with the help of four straight Matt Broderick pressure serves and two De La Cruz kills, Fisher crawled back to tie the set up at 22. Both teams traded points until the scoreboard read 29-29. Finally, De La Cruz put the set away with two monster kills off of Paul Hackford sets.

Coming off an eventful third set, the Cardinals were able to carry over the momentum and eventually lead 20-16 late in the set until putting away the Mavericks 25-21 and take the match to a deciding fifth set.

After back-and-forth action throughout, the Cardinals were down 8-5 as the two teams' switched side, until eventually falling 15-12.

Freshman Hackford again led the way from the setter position finishing with a season-high 52 assists. ­­Kevin Cahill posted seven kills in the match, while Tyler Richards added five. Richards led the way defensively with eight digs, while Hackford, Broderick, Joe Kenney, and David Cerqua each added seven apiece.

The Cardinals return to action this weekend as they travel to Boston, Massachusetts for their first two United Volleyball Conference matches of the season. Fisher will take on Vassar on Saturday at 6 p.m. followed by MIT on Sunday at 1 p.m.