HIRAM, OHIO – The St. John Fisher College men's volleyball team won its first match of the 2019 season on Friday night, as the Cardinals took down Concordia University in a thrilling five sets 23-25, 25-23, 18-25, 25-23, 15-8. With the win, Fisher improves to 1-2 early on in the 2019 season, while Concordia Wisconsin falls to 2-1 overall.

After falling victim to a late 6-0 scoring run by Concordia in the first, the Cardinals stormed back in the second set. Fisher was able to put together two separate four-point scoring runs throughout the set to gain the momentum.

Freshman Josh Bigford led the way in the second set victory with four kills, while Concordia tallied nine attacking errors in the second set alone.

Much like the first set of action, the Cardinals fell victim to two late four-point and five-point scoring runs by Concordia in the third set. The Falcons as a team hit a combined .414 percent in the third set alone, while the Cardinals notched 11 kills with eight attacking errors.

Once again, Fisher battled its way back in the fourth set to tie the match back up at two sets apiece. With back-and-forth action throughout most of the fourth set, two kills from Bigford and a finishing kill from fellow freshman Andres Ramirez secured a final fifth set for the Cardinals.

In the fifth and final set, the Cardinals jumped out to a quick 8-4 advantage as the teams' switched sides, with the help of kills from Bigford, Ivan Lopez, and Matt Broderick.

As the fifth set action continued, Fisher tacked on another three points, pushing its lead to a commanding 11-4. After Concordia was able to cut the Cardinal lead to just four points, another Bigford kill pushed Fisher onto a 4-1 scoring run to finish off the exciting five set affair.

The freshman Bigford led the Fisher offense with a game-high 21 kills, six digs, and .213 hitting percentage. Fellow freshman Ramirez added another 10 kills, while Broderick pitched in 10 kills and a career-high 15 digs.

David Cerqua led the Cardinal defense, finishing with 16 digs as Paul Hackford handled the setting duties and notched a game-high 42 assists to go along with five kills.

The Cardinals are back in action tomorrow for two matches at 2 p.m. and 4 p.m. as they take on Loras College followed by the hosts Hiram College.