PITTSFORD, N.Y. – The St. John Fisher College men's volleyball team kept its win streak alive with a pair of victories Saturday at the Manning and Napier Varsity Gym. The Cardinals defeated Thiel College in straight-sets (25-13, 25-21, 25-16) before having to pull off a two-set comeback against Geneva College (19-25, 24-26, 25-18, 25-17, 15-10). The Cardinals ended their home tournament, the Fisher Invite, with a record of 3-0. 
 
Fisher's unbeaten streak reaches 11 as it is just one away from tying the program record of 12 straight-wins set in 2019. The Cardinals are now 11-1 with their only loss coming to nationally-ranked Wells College. 
 
During the first match, junior Paul Hackford surpassed 2,000 career assists. The Orchard Park native led all players in assists in both matches with 24 against Thiel and then a season-high 46 versus Geneva. The setter also had a career-high and game-high 22 digs in the five-set victory over the Golden Tornadoes. 
 
Josh Bigford led the Cardinals in the kills category in both matches with eight and 16 respectively. 
 
FISHER 3, THIEL 0 
 
The Cardinals utilized a few point-streaks to take a large lead in the opening set. Fisher finished on a 5-0 to win the frame. Bigford had two aces during the final run while Paul Hackford set up Martin Hackford for set-winning point. 
 
Fisher got out in front early once again in the second stanza. Paul Hackford earned his own kill as the setter stepped up on ball placed by Ivan Lopez to claim the point. Fisher kept the Tomcats at bay as the difference never went below three for the rest of set. Josh Bigford put one away to go up by two sets. 
 
It was a tight third set for the early portion until the Cardinals broke free with a 5-2 run to take an 11-8 edge. A Lopez kill gave Bigford the serve at 12-9 and Fisher scored three-straight points with the sophomore slamming an ace to make it 15-9 in favor of the home squad. Matt Broderick ended the match with a kill to give the Cardinals their 10th-straight win. 
 
Paul Hackford registered a game-high eight digs while Martin Hackford earned six kills and seven digs. Bigford had three aces while as a team, Fisher hit .319 in the match. 
 
FISHER 3, GENEVA 2
 
The start of the match was delayed by almost two hours as the Golden Tornadoes were finishing up a match played at Nazareth College earlier in the day. When it finally got underway, Fisher looked slow as Geneva took an early lead and stayed in control for the rest of the set to end a nine-set winning streak by the Cardinals. 
 
Fisher got back into the swing of things in the second set as it went up 11-8 on a Martin Hackford kill that Bigford assisted on. Four-straight points won by the Cardinals made it 21-17 but the Golden Tornadoes stormed back to tie it at 22-all. The Hackford brothers each earned a kill to make it set point but Geneva responded with four points in a row to take the stanza and push the lead up to two-sets-to-none. 
 
With their backs against the wall, the Cardinals did not look daunted as they took the advantage early in the third on a 5-0 run to go up 7-3. Fisher cruised the rest of the way to take the set and extend the match to the fourth. 
 
Geneva looked ready to spoil the weekend for Fisher as it grabbed the early edge and went up by as many as six at 14-8. However, a 4-0 run chipped away at the lead and then Fisher earned a point to make to 16-13 with the Golden Tornadoes still leading and Paul Hackford stepping up to the service line. 
 
The junior led the Cardinals to nine-straight winning points with the final five coming from back-to-back kills from Bigford and then three-straight aces from the setter. Fisher finished off the set with Broderick spiking a ball that was set up by Paul Hackford to send the match to a deciding fifth set. 
 
The Cardinals had all the momentum with winning the previous two frames as they went up 4-1 early in the fifth. Geneva fought back to take the lead at 8-7 and then again at 9-8. A Martin Hackford ace gave Fisher the lead for good at 10-9. A big block at the net by Paul Hackford and Lopez made it match point and Paul Hackford closed out his memorable day with a sneaky behind-the-back set that went over the net and hit the court before a Golden Tornado could reach it. 
 
Martin Hackford and Broderick each recorded double-doubles with 13 kills and 10 digs for Hackford and season-highs of 13 kills and 13 digs for Broderick. Lopez and Eric Bentivegna each had six total blocks as it was a new season-high for Lopez. Paul Hackford posted seven kills and a career-high four aces. This was the second time this season the Cardinals came back to win from down two sets. 
 
Fisher has two weeks to prepare for its next match, which will also be the start of its conference schedule. The Cardinals travel to Vassar College on Friday, February 21^st with the start time set for 6 p.m.