PITTSFORD, N.Y. – The top-seeded St. John Fisher College women's volleyball team will play for its third straight conference title after the Cardinals swept the fourth-seeded Elmira College Soaring Eagles on Friday night in the semifinal round of the Empire 8 Championship inside Manning and Napier Varsity Gymnasium on Bobby Wanzer Court.  With the win, Fisher improved to 25-4 on the year while Elmira had its season come to an end at 8-15.

After taking the first two sets, the Cardinals looked to put the Soaring Eagles away in the third frame, but Elmira had other ideas after scoring eight of the set's first nine points to force Fisher to use one of its two timeouts. 

The break in action did little to slow Elmira's momentum as it slammed down four kills as part of a 5-1 burst to open up a 13-2 advantage.  As the set wore on, Fisher would cut the gap in half with a 5-1 run of its own, but Elmira regained control and pushed its lead to 19-10 as the Cardinals used another timeout to regroup.

Facing a nine-point deficit, Fisher began to chip away and scored seven unanswered points with Alea Steigerwald at the line including two kills from Delayne Young to pull to within two points, 21-19, before the Soaring Eagles could stop the bleeding.

With the tides shifting, the Soaring Eagles stretched their lead back to four, 24-20, but the Cardinals continued their onslaught at the net and rattled off five consecutive points to take their first lead of the frame, 25-24.

Facing elimination, Elmira countered with a quick point to knot the game at 25-25, but back-to-back kills from Young and Steigerwald put an end to the threat and propelled Fisher to the title round.

Young led all players with 13 kills in the win to go along with four digs while Steigerwald, who was named the Empire 8 Player of the Year for the fourth year in a row on Wednesday, finished with 12 kills, seven digs and three aces.  Lindsey DeBonis added five kills, 12 digs and two aces of her own while Katie Leaty handed out 28 assists over three sets.  Julia Halsey finished the match with nine digs overall. 

The Cardinals will be back in action at 2 p.m. on Saturday as they take on second-seeded Nazareth College, which bested third-seeded Hartwick College in four sets, for a chance at hoisting the Empire 8 Championship trophy and earning the conference's automatic berth into the NCAA Division III Championship.