PITTSFORD, N.Y. – The St. John Fisher College women's volleyball team defeated the Elmira College Soaring Eagles by straight-sets (25-12, 25-21, 25-16) in the semifinal round of the Empire 8 Championships at Manning and Napier Varsity Gym. The win advances the Cardinals (22-10) to the conference championship final while Elmira ends its season with a record of 13-16.

Sophomore Alea Steigerwald finished with a game-high 18 kills and a team-high 12 digs while hitting .394 on the day. Junior Rebecca Hay led all players with 33 assists and freshman Lauren Gilbert had a solid debut in her first postseason game of her collegiate career with nine kills and 10 digs.

Steigerwald started the night off on the right foot with back-to-back kills in the first two points of the match. A 7-1 run put Fisher in front by nine at 15-6. After Elmira won a point, the Cardinals answered with four straight that included two kills from Steigerwald to make it 19-7. A pair of Gilbert kills ended the first set to give Fisher a 1-0 edge.

The Cardinals kept the momentum going into the second set with Steigerwald leading the way as the Penfield native earned four kills in the early portion as Fisher got out in front by a score of 10-5. The Cardinals would win two more points in a row off the hand of freshman Sydney French who buried back-to-back aces. The Soaring Eagles fought back to tie it at 17 apiece, however, Fisher never allowed Elmira to take the lead as two Steigerwald kills put the Cardinals back on top. Hay set up freshman Elly Hepburn for a point to make it 23-18 in favor of Fisher as it would go onto claim the second stanza.

Steigerwald took control at the beginning of the third set with two kills and an ace to win Fisher its first three points. A 5-0 run that was capped off by an ace from freshman Alexis Mancha put the Cardinals in the driver's seat at 12-5. Later, Fisher strung together three points in a row with a kill from both Gilbert and Steigerwald as well as an ace by freshman Lindsey DeBonis to keep the Cardinals up by eight. On its first attempt at match point, Fisher finished off the match with Hay setting up Hepburn for the kill.

Over the entire match, the Cardinals never trailed against Elmira. Fisher ended up with 50 points total, more than double the amount of the Soaring Eagles. Steigerwald and sophomore Julia Halsey tied for a game-high three aces as the Cardinals had 12 aces as a team. This was Fisher's fifth-straight win over Elmira, with all of them coming in straight-sets fashion. The win was the Cardinals' first-ever victory in E8 tournament history.

Fisher prepares to play in the E8 Championship Final for the first time in program history. The Cardinals will host the winner of Houghton/Nazareth at 1 p.m. on Saturday.