PITTSFORD, N.Y. – The St. John Fisher College men's volleyball team kept its winning streak alive on Saturday as the Cardinals took down New York University in a thrilling five set match for their 12th consecutive victory. With the UVC win, the Cardinals improve to 13-3 overall and 2-0 in the conference, while the Violets fall to 5-6 overall and 2-1 in the UVC.

Despite dropping the first set, Fisher battled its way back and earned its 12th consecutive victory as the Cardinals topped NYU 16-15, 25-20, 25-23, 24-26, 15-13 with the help of 57 total kills and an average hitting percentage of .271.

After struggling to find its groove in the first set, Fisher battled back in the second set with 16 kills on only 25 attempts. Following an NYU kill that gave them a 11-9 lead, the Cardinals were able to put together a 5-1 scoring run that included kills from
Josh Bigford, Matt Broderick, Mike Strumpfler.

From there, Fisher did not give the lead back to the Violets and finished the second set on a 4-0 run led by Martin Hackford at the service line.

With the match tied-up at one set apiece, both sides traded points back-and-forth for the first half of the third set, eventually leading to a 15-15 deadlock on the scoreboard. Following two straight kills from Bigford, NYU was able to use a 3-0 scoring run to take late 19-17 advantage.

Once again, the Cardinals picked up some momentum late in the set as they took home the third set victory with the help of a final 7-3 scoring run. Kills from Bigford and Paul Hackford put Fisher ahead two sets to none heading into the fourth set.

Despite Fisher holding match point at 24-23, NYU battled its way back in the fourth set off the heels of 17 total kills and a .344 hitting percentage to tie the match back-up at two sets apiece, forcing a deciding fifth set.

The exciting back-and-forth action continued as the fifth set got underway, until a three-point Cardinal scoring run capped off by a kill from Broderick gave Fisher an 8-7 advantage as the teams switched sides.

Fisher gained its largest lead of the set at 12-9 as Bigford put away his 20th kill of the match. From there, the Violets fought their way back to within one, however another Bigford kill on match point sealed the 12th straight victory for the Cardinals.

The freshman Bigford was dominant throughout the five-set thriller with a career-high 22 kills, a .404 hitting percentage, and only three attacking errors. Broderick and Strumpfler added nine kills apiece, while Paul Hackford notched a game-high 51 assists and three service aces.

The Cardinals were led defensively by David Cerqua who posted 10 digs and also Bigford, Ivan Lopez, and Strumpfler who added three blocks apiece.

Fisher returns to action on Sunday at 11 a.m. when it welcomes Stevens to Manning and Napier Varsity Gymnasium for another United Volleyball Conference matchup.