PITTSFORD, N.Y. – The St. John Fisher College women's volleyball team grinded out a huge five-set win over SUNY Brockport on Tuesday night on Bobby Wanzer Court in a critical non-conference match that will have implications in the upcoming NCAA regional rankings.  With the win, Fisher, which has now posted nine consecutive victories, improved to 12-3 while the Golden Eagles fell to 10-6 on the year.

Gracie Jacob led the way for Fisher with 18 kills to go along with eight digs and two aces while Alea Steigerwald finished with another double-double after producing 14 kills and 15 digs.  Sydney French added six kills and a block while Olivia Nellis contributed four kills and four blocks in all.  Julia Halsey was credited with a team-leading 17 digs while Katie Leaty had 42 assists and 15 digs in the win.  Kara Kingsbury added 10 digs of her own off the bench.

After swapping the first two sets, neither team was able to pull away in the third frame as the score remained deadlocked at 15-15.  Brockport took advantage of a kill and a block to open up a two-point cushion, but the Cardinals fired back with two points of their own to keep pace. 

As the set wore on, both teams traded points until the Cardinals rattled off three straight scores including a pair of kills from Steigerwald to force Brockport into a timeout down 23-20.  Facing a three-point gap, the Golden Eagles would eventually pull even at 25-25, but the Cardinals regained their composure and scored three of the frame's final four points capped off by back-to-back kills from Delayne Young and Jacob to eek out a 29-27 win.

Leading by a set, Brockport fought off a comeback bid by the Cardinals in the fourth frame to even the match and set up a winner-take-all fifth set.  With momentum up for grabs, the Cardinals struck first with Jacob accounting for back-to-back service aces as part of a 4-1 run in the home team's favor.

Leading by three, Fisher gave two points back, but regrouped and forced the Golden Eagles to use their only timeout of the frame following three straight points including a pair of Brockport errors that made it 7-3.

As the set continued, Fisher upped the pace and overwhelmed the visitors at the net with three successive kills followed by an ace and a Brockport error to open up a 12-5 cushion.  From there, Brockport would rally and pulled to within two points late, 13-11, but Jacob set Fisher up with match point after hammering her 18th kill and Brockport followed with an attacking error to seal the regional win for the Cardinals.

As a team, Fisher accounted for 48 kills and posted 86 digs in all.  Head coach Kelly Greapentrog's team finished the match with nine aces and hit .155 overall.  

Fisher will look to extend its winning streak to double digits at 6 p.m. on Friday when it hosts Alfred University in an Empire 8 clash inside Manning and Napier Varsity Gymnasium on Bobby Wanzer Court.