Men's Volleyball | 2/24/2020 12:52:00 PM
PITTSFORD, N.Y. – With winter sports wrapping up their regular seasons and spring sports starting to kick off, many St. John Fisher College athletic programs competed this past week and were well represented in the weekly conference awards.
Seven Fisher athletes earned recognition including
Josh Bigford of men's volleyball who was named the Player of the Week for both the Empire 8 and United Volleyball Conferences. The Cardinals swept the E8 men's volleyball honors with
Matt Beiter earning Rookie of the Week.
Baseball took home two awards with
Justin Graham as Player of the Week and
Brian Norsen as Rookie of the Week.
Ella Eckert of women's basketball and
Ian Evans of men's lacrosse were selected Player of the Week for their respective sports while
McKenna Cone nabbed Women's Indoor Track Athlete of the Week.
Bigford's is Fisher's first-ever recipient of the UVC Player of the Week award. The sophomore was named Rookie of the Week six times for the conference last season. This past weekend the No. 14 Cardinals traveled to No. 5 Vassar on Friday and pushed the Brewers to a five-set match where Fisher ultimately came up short. In the match, the Cicero native earned a new career-high with 27 kills while also tallying six digs and four total blocks. On Saturday, Fisher earned its first win in league play with a 3-0 victory over Sage. The outside hitter had 14 kills, two total blocks and three digs while hitting a season-high .545. This is the third time this season Bigford was selected as Empire 8 Player of the Week.
Beiter helped defeat the Gators with six kills, seven digs and three service aces. In the match versus Vassar, the Fairport native had three digs and one ace. This is the opposite hitter's second Rookie of the Week honor by the E8.
Men's Volleyball starts its spring break trip on Saturday at 1 p.m. at conference opponent New York University. New York was ranked third in last week's national rankings.
Graham had a terrific day at the plate on Saturday as the Cardinals opened their season by sweeping a double header at No. 14 Johns Hopkins. Fisher got off to an early lead in game one when the senior led off the second inning with a double and scored the game's opening run later in the frame. The shortstop then collected three hits, three RBI and two runs in game two. In the top of the eighth with two outs and the Cardinals leading by just a run, the Orlando, Fla. native cranked a two-run home run to make it 9-6 Fisher. Graham would later drive in another run and score himself to add more insurance runs in the ninth. Overall, he hit .444 over the two games.
Norsen made an impact in his collegiate debut as the Hamburg native started at first base in both games for the Cardinals. The freshman, who was named the top high school baseball player in Western New York in 2019, picked up his first career hit in the fifth inning of game two. On his following at-bat, Norsen earned his first RBI with a single that tied the game at five. The right-handed batter then delivered his first home run in eighth that came right after Graham's long ball to put the Cardinals on top by four. The Frontier High School graduate would earn his fourth hit and third RBI of the game in the ninth with another single.
Baseball now prepares to make its spring break trip down to Florida for the RussMatt Central Florida Invitational. Fisher will get things started at 1:30 p.m. on Saturday when it battles Cabrini University.
Eckert finished off the regular season with her ninth double-double of the year as the Cardinals took down rival Nazareth, 77-64, on Saturday. The sophomore poured in 18 points while grabbing a game-high 15 rebounds. The East Amherst native also posted five assists which tied a career-high. This is Eckert's second E8 Player of the Week award this season and third in her career.
Women's basketball will host the Empire 8 Championship Tournament as the number one seed this weekend. The Cardinals will face No. 4 Hartwick College at 5:30 p.m. for the right to go to conference championship game which will be played on Saturday at 4 p.m.
Evans led No. 14 Fisher to a season-opening 18-13 win over Ithaca on Saturday at the Pinnacle Athletic Campus in Victor. The 2019 E8 Rookie of the Year started his sophomore campaign with a career-high six goals. The Lafayette hit the back of the net on all of his six shots on goal and had just one shot go wide. The attacker's back-to-back scores in the third came at the perfect time as Fisher went from up one to up by three and never looked back the rest of the game.
Cone earns her first career E8 Athlete of the Week award for her performance at the Conference Tune-Up hosted by Nazareth on Friday. The freshman set a new personal-best in the 60-meter hurdles with a time of 9.73 seconds. The LeRoy native's time in the preliminaries qualified her for the final where she ultimately placed sixth. Cone now ranks second in the conference in the event.
Track and field will head to Houghton College this weekend to compete at the Empire 8 Championships.
Stay up-to-date with the latest news, scores, highlights and more by downloading the official mobile app for Fisher Athletics. Just search SJFC Athletics in the App Store or on Google Play and download today for free. Follow the Cardinals on social media for more!
Twitter |
Instagram
