COLUMBUS, OHIO – Sophomore outside hitter Alea Steigerwald of the St. John Fisher College women's volleyball team broke her own program record on Saturday as the Penfield native put down 33 kills on the second day of play at the Pam Briggs Memorial Volleyball Classic at Capital University. Despite the All-American's efforts, the Cardinals fell to Defiance College (25-16, 25-17, 23-25, 25-21) before dropping a hard-fought five-set match to Capital by a score of 25-23, 25-16, 16-25, 14-25, 15-10.

DEFIANCE 3. FISHER 1
Steigerwald got the day started for the Cardinals with a kill to put Fisher up 1-0. After the Yellow Jackets took the lead and pushed the advantage to five, Kara Kingsbury produced a service ace to pull the Cardinals to within one point, 12-11. The Cardinals would keep chipping away down the stretch, but were unable to turn the tide as Defiance took the opening set.

Fisher started off strong in the second set and took a 3-1 advantage following a kill by Steigerwald and back-to-back kills by Lauren Gilbert. Defiance responded with an eight-point run of its own and never looked back to take a two-set lead.

In the third set, Fisher responded with three separate three-point runs to give the Cardinals a 17-14 lead. The Yellow Jackets would quickly respond with three points of their own to make it 17 all. Both teams would win four straight points to knot it up at 21 apiece. Two errors by Defiance and an ace by Lindsey DeBonis put Fisher up by one point before a Gilbert kill made it 2-1 in sets in favor of the Yellow Jackets.

The Cardinals were in prime position to make a comeback after taking an early 5-1 lead to kick off the fourth, but their momentum seemed to slow as Defiance founds its groove and closed out the fourth set and the match.

CAPITAL 3, FISHER 2
In the nightcap, the Crusaders led for most of the first set, but the Cardinals would battle back and eventually cut the lead to one at 24-23 after a modest three-point swing. Fisher looked to tie it up, but Capital would find hardwood to clinch the opening set and take a 1-0 edge.

Fisher got off to a strong start in the second with a 4-1 advantage, but the Crusaders found a rhythm and moved ahead before claiming a two-set advantage.

The Cardinals faced the tough task of having to win three straight sets in a row to pull out a victory. They got the comeback going with a .417 attack percentage in the third to cut the lead in half. Fisher then won the fourth set wire-to-wire as it forced back-to-back Crusader errors to secure the set win and force a fifth and deciding set.

In the final frame, Fisher started fast with a 7-2 lead, but Capital peeled off eight of the next nine points to take a 10-8 advantage. The Cardinals pushed back to tie it up a 10 apiece, but the Crusaders would close it out with five straight points to win the final match of their home tournament.

Steigerwald finished with a game-high 33 kills, which surpassed her own program record of 32 kills set last season against The College of New Rochelle. To date, Steigerwald's 33 kills is the fourth-highest total in a five-set match across Division III. Rebecca Hay led all players with 44 assists.

Fisher is back in action at 4 p.m. on Friday to take on SUNY Poly at Rochester Institute of Technology. The Cardinals will then face RIT later that night.