ROCHESTER, N.Y. – The St. John Fisher College men's volleyball team took to the court for its first of two United Volleyball Conference games this weekend at Nazareth College. Friday evening, the Cardinals fell to No. 3 Stevens Institute of Technology in three sets 19-25, 20-25, 22-25. With the loss, Fisher falls to 12-13 overall and 1-7 in conference play, while the Ducks improve to 19-4 overall and 7-1 in the UVC.

The Cardinals opened up the first set by taking a 10-5 lead over the Ducks, with Avery Terroso and Mike Strumpfler each notching two early kills apiece. After some back and forth action, Stevens was able two regain the momentum and put together two four point runts to take the opening set.  

Much like the first set, each teams traded points back and forth to open the second set. Both sides saw the scoreboard knotted up at nine, as Tyler English got off to hot start in the set with two kills and one block. Another Stevens scoring run helped the No. 3 ranked team in Division III regain an eight point lead late in the set. However, Fisher was able to fight back to cut the Duck lead to four with bocks from Paul Hackford and English.

The Cardinals saw themselves down 20-13 late in the third set, but caught some momentum putting together an 8-2 run to get back in set 20-22. The scoring run was fueled by two Strumpfler kills along with anther block from Hackford and English.

Strumpfler finished with four kills in the set, while the Ducks were able to hold off the late surge and take the hard fought third set and match.

The Cardinals finished the match hitting .231 as a team, including .310 in the second set. Strumpfler and English led the way offensively for Fisher as both middle hitters finished with nine and eight kills respectively, with only one error apiece. Terroso added seven kills along with five digs, while Ben De La Cruz pitched in six kills himself.

Hackford finished the three set match with a game-high 28 assists to go along with two blocks and six kills. David Cerqua led Fisher defensively, as the libero pitched in a team-high six digs on the day.

The Cardinals are back in action on Saturday when they take on New York University in another UVC matchup at Nazareth College scheduled to start at 3 p.m.