Lake Forrest, Illinois – The St. John Fisher College women's volleyball team opened up its 2018 season with two matches to kick off the Forester Invitational on Friday evening. In their first matchup of the day, the Cardinals fell to the hosts Lake Forrest College 19-25, 14-25, 12-25. In Fisher's next match versus Loras College, the Cardinals would take the loss in three sets 19-25, 14-25, 12-25. The Cardinals fall to 0-2 overall, while the Foresters and the Duhawks both move to 1-0 overall.

The Cardinals started off their 2018 season with 24 total kills in their first match versus Lake Forest College. After falling behind early in the first set, two consecutive kills from Izzy Smith brought the Cardinals to within four points, however the Foresters held on for the first set victory.

The Foresters maintained their offensive success over the next two sets, hitting a combined.279 to take the match. Freshman Alea Steigerwald led the way offensively for Fisher in the first match of the evening, finishing with eight kills and five digs. Emily Risch added four kills of her own out of the middle, while Smith notched four as well to go along with nine digs.

Senior Elise Kreuz led the way defensively, posting a team-high 11 digs, while setter Rebecca Hay finished with 18 assists and two kills.  

In the second match of the night, the Cardinals posted 16 total kills to go along with 45 digs defensively. Steigerwald again led the way with seven kills, while Olivia Levulis pitched in three kills and Julia Halsey added two.

Kreuz posted another team-high 13 digs from the libero position, with Hay notching another eight assists and one service ace.

The Cardinals are right back on the court tomorrow morning in Lake Forest, Illinois for another two matches, first taking on Milwaukee Institute of Engineering at 11 a.m., followed by Carroll University at 1 p.m.