ELMIRA, N.Y. – Four-year starting libero, David Cerqua, surpassed the 1,000 career digs mark although the No. 6 St. John Fisher College men's volleyball team's suffered two conference defeats at the hands of No. 4 Vassar inside Speidel Gymnasium on the campus of Elmira College, 3-1 (25-19, 19-25, 22-25, 16-25) and 3-1 (22-25, 25-15, 22-25, 21-25). With the losses, the No. 6 Cardinals dropped to 7-5 on the year and 5-3 in the UVC while the No. 4 Brewers improved to 6-2 overall and 5-2 in the conference.
 
FISHER 1, VASSAR 3
 
The Cardinals and the Brewers traded points to kick off the first set, until Fisher went on a 6-0 run fueled by Matt Beiter and Jake Baker kills, which pushed the score to 16-10. Minutes later, Josh Bigford drove home a kill from Dylan Urbanski, followed by a block from Urbanski and middle blocker, Ivan Lopez, to extend the Fisher lead to 22-16. Vassar took back points of its own, but could the Brewers could not recover the six-point deficit, as a Baker kill sealed the set at 25-19.
 
Trailing 15-11 in the next set, the Cardinals stormed back to tie it up at 15 with four straight points, including two kills from Baker. The two squads exchanged blows for six more points, but the Brewers scored seven of the set's last eight points, to even the match score at one set apiece.
 
Fisher fell to as much as a three-point shortage early in the third set, but three-straight Cardinals points tied it all up at nine. The Brewers went on a short-lived run, as Fisher used a Beiter and Lopez block to fire up a five-point run, capped off with Baker and Eric Bentivegna kills. The teams brought the score to 19-19, but Vassar's offense out-powered the Fisher retaliation and the Cardinals came up just three points short.
 
The Cardinals brought the fourth set's score to 7-7, but could only muster up nine more points in the set, sealing the victory for the higher seed in the initial match.
 
Baker led the way for Fisher with 12 kills in the match, followed up by Beiter who combined for 11 kills, six digs, an ace, and a block. Bigford tallied 9 kills and led the Cardinals in digs with eight, while Urbanski dished out 32 assists.
 
FISHER 1, VASSAR 3
 
Despite a competitive back-and-forth loss in the first stanza, the Cardinals looked to even the match in the follow up. Bigford and Beiter kills pushed Fisher out to an early 6-2 lead that the Brewers would never recuperate from. Later, a six-point lead turned into an 11-point lead including points scored on a Baker kill and Lopez service ace. Just one attack error in the section compared to Vassar's 10 allowed the Cardinals to force at least one extra set.
 
The two squads exchanged the lead three times in the third set, with no more than a three-point lead on either side. After both crews scored 17 points each, the Brewers used two-straight kills to take the lead and sustain it for the rest of the set's play.  
 
Fisher won the first point of the fourth set after Urbanski set up Bigford for a kill, but Vassar was not phased and took back the lead, which they maintained throughout the set. Trailing 19-16, consecutive kills from Bigford and Beiter pushed the Cardinals to their smallest deficit of the stanza, but Vassar scored five of the last seven points to end the night.  
 
Bigford found his groove in the second match, combining for 14 kills, eight digs, and two blocks. Beiter added 11 kills, seven digs, and three blocks, while Baker notched 10 kills, six digs, and a team-high six blocks.
 
The Cardinals' libero, Cerqua, had a team-high 14 digs and officially recorded his 1,000^th career dig. The two-time Empire 8 Conference Libero/Defensive Player of the Year and First-Team AVCA All-American is now the first in program history to attain the mark.
 
Fisher now turns towards the UVC Tournament which will take place beginning on April 9. The Cardinals face a tough road ahead as any of the three opponents they will face in the postseason championship will be amongst those in the AVCA national rankings.