PITTSFORD, N.Y. – The nationally-ranked St. John Fisher College men's volleyball team picked up a pair of wins on Saturday as the No. 7 Cardinals took both ends of a doubleheader against Elmira College (25-19, 25-18, 25-21/25-17, 24-26, 25-20, 25-16) inside Manning and Napier Varsity Gymnasium on Bobby Wanzer Court.  With the wins, Fisher evened its season mark at 2-2 and moved to 1-1 in the United Volleyball Conference standings while the Soaring Eagles remained winless at 0-5, 0-2, respectively.

FISHER 3, ELMIRA 0

After swapping points in the early goings of the opening set, Fisher scored four straight points including kills from Eric Bentivegna and Avery Terroso.  The Soaring Eagles would pull to within two points, but the Cardinals countered with four quick scores to hold a 14-8 lead and never looked back as Fisher maintained a healthy lead throughout.

In the second set, Elmira jumped out to an early advantage and led 7-5 following a service ace. Trailing by two, Fisher found a rhythm and produced four of the set's next five points to forge ahead, 10-9.  As the set wore on, Elmira would take advantage of the Cardinals' errors at the service line to climb to within 15-14, but as had been the case in the first set, Fisher would score five straight points capped off by a block from Matt Beiter, Terroso and Bentivegna to take a 2-0 lead.

In the third frame, Elmira captured the momentum early and eventually built a 13-9 lead as Fisher called a timeout to regroup.  The break seemed to energize the Cardinals as they quickly erased the deficit to knot the set up at 15-15. From there, Elmira sprinted out to a 20-17 advantage, but could not contain Fisher at the net as the Cardinals scored seven of the final eight points including two kills from Beiter to earn the sweep in UVC play.

Junior Josh Bigford finished with 10 kills and three digs in the win while Beiter added 10 kills of his own. Ivan Lopez added seven kills and hit .875 on the match while also coming up with two blocks.  Dylan Urbanski was the driving force behind Fisher's attack with 34 assists while David Cerqua was credited with seven digs.

FISHER 3, ELMIRA 1

It was all Fisher to start the set as the Cardinals built a 7-1 lead following an ace from Terroso.  The lead would grow to as many as eight points, 16-8, midway through the frame as Matt Cieplicki tallied a kill before back-to-back aces from Lopez afforded Fisher an eight-point cushion.  Elmira would cut the gap to five points, but that was as close as it would come as Fisher hammered home four more kills a in a 25-17 decision.

After falling in the second set, 24-26, head coach Stephen England's squad regained control in the third as a kill from Beiter followed by an error on Elmira had the Cardinals ahead, 13-10.  Down three, Elmira went on a 3-0 run, but Fisher countered with five of the next six points to open up a four-point margin.

The lead grew to as many as six points after an Elmira serving error as Fisher cruised to the 25-20 win to take a 2-1 lead.

In the fourth and deciding frame, the Cardinals went on a 4-0 run with Brandon Cox-Bagley at the service line to hold an 8-3 edge.  Later in the set, Fisher's hold grew to eight points with Cox-Bagley igniting another run to make it 17-9. 

Elmira pulled to within six, but was not able to match Fisher's firepower as the Cardinals came out on top, 25-16.

Bigford led the way for Fisher with 10 kills to go along with six digs and six block assists while Beiter, Cieplicki and Terroso each put away four kills in the win. 

In all, Fisher accounted for 14 aces in the match with Terroso and Lopez finishing with four apiece.

Up next, Fisher will make its way to Nazareth College for the second time this season as the Cardinals look to avenge a loss to the Golden Flyers earlier this week.  The match is scheduled to begin at 7 p.m.