CALDWELL, N.J. – The St. John Fisher College men's volleyball team concluded its historic 2019 season on Saturday evening as the Cardinals fell to No. 2 New Paltz in the Second Round of the United Volleyball Conference Championship. With the loss, Fisher finishes its season with a 21-13 overall record, while the Hawks improve to 23-7 overall and will play No. 1 Stevens in the conference championship game tomorrow afternoon.

Last night, the Cardinals were victorious in their first playoff match in their two-year history with a four-set victory over Vassar before falling to New Paltz in the Second Round.

The Cardinals opened up the first set with a total of 10 kills, however the Hawks were able to earn the first set victory with the help of 12 kills and an .231 average hitting percentage.

As the second set got underway, both sides traded a pair of scoring runs back-and-forth until the scoreboard read 13-13 after a Josh Bigford kill.

From there, a pair of two and three-point scoring runs continued to keep the score deadlocked as a kill from Ivan Lopez tied the match back up at 20 apiece. However, in the end, New Paltz tallied five of the seven points to earn a two sets to none advantage.

Back-and-forth action continued into the third set as the score was knotted up at 13 apiece off of another Bigford kill. From there, Fisher rattled off a four-set scoring run with the help of blocks from Paul Hackford and Lopez to put the Cardinals ahead 17-12.

As the third set wore on, Fisher continued to maintain its lead as kill from Kevin Cahill, followed by a block from Mike Strumpfler pushed the Cardinals to a third set victory.

In the fourth set, New Paltz was once again able to find some early momentum as the Hawks jumped out to an early 14-9 lead. From there, the Hawks used two separate four-point scoring runs to their advantage in route to a
fourth-set victory.

The Cardinals battled in all four sets as Bigford led the way with a team-high 10 kills, while Cahill and Lopez each added eight. Paul Hackford handled the setting duties and notched 30 assists and David Cerqua led the way defensively with 12 digs.