COLUMBUS, OHIO – The St. John Fisher College women's volleyball team opened its season at the Pam Briggs Memorial Classic Volleyball Tournament on Friday as the Cardinals fell to Hiram College by a score of 25-21, 25-17, 22-25, 25-19 followed by a four-set loss (19-25, 25-13, 25-12, 25-15) to Otterbein University. Alea Steigerwald came out strong following her All-American campaign last year as a freshman. The sophomore had a team-high 29 combined kills on the day to go along with 27 digs. Fisher starts 0-2 in 2019 while both Hiram and Otterbein are 2-0 after the season opener.  

ST. JOHN FISHER 1, HIRAM 3
The Cardinals had the tough task of going up against a Terriers team that came off a straight set win against host Capital University earlier in the day. Fisher fell into an early 5-0 hole before Steigerwald secured the first point of the season for the Cardinals with a kill set up by Rebecca Hay.

Fisher continued to fight its way back throughout the first set cutting the lead to one on multiple occasions. A service ace by Lindsey DeBonis made it a 22-20 game, but Hiram would win three of the next four points to take the first set.

Another cold start in the second set put the Cardinals in an uphill climb the rest of the way. A five-point streak that was capped off by back-to-back aces from Kara Kingsbury cut the deficit, 20-14, but Fisher could not complete the comeback to drop another set.

The third set was where Fisher started off strong winnings seven of the first nine points. A five-point run pushed the lead up to nine at 20-11 and the Cardinals soared to their first set win of the 2019 season with Lauren Gilbert ending it on the kill assisted by Emily Risch.

As momentum seemed to be heading in Fisher's favor, Hiram took back control in the fourth after taking an early lead that it did not relinquish the rest of the way. The Cardinals made it, 23-19, off a four-point run with Steigerwald earning back-to-back kills but the Terriers finished it off with a pair of points including an ace to sink Fisher in its season opening match.

ST. JOHN FISHER 1, OTTERBEIN 3
The opening set was a back-and-forth affair until the Cardinals won four of five points to take a 14-10 lead and then never looked back. Fisher held a seven point advantage at 22-15 where Otterbein pushed back, cutting the margin to four. But, after winning on a service error, the Cardinals sealed the deal in the first set with a kill by Steigerwald.

After a tightly contested opening set, it was all Otterbein the rest of the way. Otterbein never trailed in the second and fourth set and the Cardinals were only able to lead in the third when they won the opening point.

Fisher had four players finish with double-digit digs for the match. Alexis Mancha led the way with 15 to go with her 15 in the first match on the day to lead the team in digs after the first day of the season.  

The Cardinals continue play in Columbus at 1 p.m. on Saturday with a match versus Defiance College before wrapping up their time at the tournament by going head-to-head with the host, Capital, for a match time set to start at 3 p.m.