PITTSFORD, N.Y. – The St. John Fisher College men's volleyball team took down Wittenberg University in four sets (25-16, 25-14, 24-26, 25-19) on Friday night at Daemen College's Lumsden Gymnasium. The win is the Cardinals' seventh-straight as their record improves to 7-1, meanwhile, the Tigers drop to 2-7 on the year.
Fisher had two players finish with double-digit kills with
Josh Bigford leading the way with a game-high 16 and
Martin Hackford contributing 12 kills. Bigford has posted double-digit kills in all six matches the sophomore has appeared in while Hackford had his third-straight match with double-digit kills.
Dylan Urbanski earned a game-high 31 assists while
David Cerqua recorded a game-high 17 digs. In the three sets the Cardinals won, they never trailed the entire set.
Bigford started the match on a good note with an opening point ace. With the score 3-2 in favor of Fisher, the Cardinals would burst ahead with an 8-0 run. From there, Fisher kept Wittenberg from gaining an edge as it nabbed the first set.
The Cardinals jump started the second set with three-straight points to kick things off. Fisher continued to lead later into the frame with a 6-0 run to make it 20-11 Fisher. A Bigford kill set up by Urbanski put the score at 23-14 and the Cardinals would win the following two points to go up two-sets-to-none.
After the Tigers took an early edge in the third, Fisher would grab back the lead thanks to three-straight aces from
Matt Beiter. Later, a Beiter kill put the Cardinals in front, 21-19. However, Wittenberg turned things around with winning six of the next eight points to go up 24-22 and earn set point. Fisher fought back to knot things up at 24 a piece but the Tigers would respond with two points in a row to extend the match.
Off dropping a set, the Cardinals took back control by earning an 8-3 advantage to start the fourth. Fisher kept a distant lead on the Wittenberg as it made it match point on Bigford's 16th kill of the night. The Cardinals won the match two points later.
Hackford posted a game-high four aces and
Ivan Lopez had three blocks at the net for Fisher.
Fisher next plays on Saturday at 12 p.m. against Daemen on the Wildcats' court.