PITTSFORD, N.Y. – The St. John Fisher College men's volleyball team kicked off their 2020 season with a loss to No. 11 Wells College on Friday at the Manning and Napier Varsity Gym in the first day of Fisher's Cardinal Classic Tournament. 
 
Fisher, who received votes in the NVA/AVCA Division III Men's Preseason Coaches Poll, fell three sets-to-one (18-25, 25-15, 25-18, 25-18) after taking the opening frame from the nationally-ranked Express. Wells remains undefeated on the season at 6-0 with the win. 
 
2019 United Volleyball Conference Rookie of the Year Josh Bigford had a strong start to his sophomore campaign with team-highs of 12 kills and eight digs for Fisher. Paul Hackford recorded a team-high 34 assists in the match. 
 
The Cardinals came in looking to for upset as they started the first set up 5-1. A kill by Eric Bentivegna kicked off a 4-0 run that included two kills from Ivan Lopez as Fisher pushed its lead to six. Bigford had a monster kill to make it 11-6 and the Cardinals would take the next four points to put Fisher up by nine. 
 
The Cardinals and Express went back and forth for the rest of the set as the Fisher never allowed their advantage to drop below five. Hackford set up his brother Martin Hackford for the set-winning kill as Fisher put itself in the driver's seat heading into the second. 
 
Wells responded well in the second stanza as it never trailed for the entire set. The Express gained a 10-4 edge and never looked back. Three-straight points from the Cardinals cut the deficit to three at 12-9 but Fisher would be unable to get any closer as Wells won eight of the last 10 points of the frame. 
 
The third set started as a back and forth affair until the Express reeled off three points in a row to go up 7-5. The Cardinals stayed within striking distance with Paul Hackford, Bigford and Lopez all earning kills. Bentivegna would also nail down a pair of kills that each made it a four-point game. At 20-16, Wells would win four-straight to make it set point. A Lopez kill and another winning point kept the Cardinals in it, but the Express were able to take the third set and earn a two sets-to-one advantage. 
 
Fisher went up 1-0 and then 2-1 in the fourth set but that is the only time they would lead for rest of the frame. Paul Hackford set up Lopez, Bigford as well as Matt Beiter and Matt Broderick for kills throughout the set. Down 23-16, Dylan Urbanski put down an ace that got the Fisher crowd going, however, Wells earned two of the next three points to seal the victory. 
 
David Cerqua earned eight digs to tie with Bigford for the team lead. The Cardinals won the block battle, 10-8, with Bentivegna having a game-high six total blocks. 
 
Fisher will play in a pair of matches to close out their home tournament on Saturday. At 1 p.m. the Cardinals will face Johnson & Wales University before they take on Elmira College at 3 p.m.