PITTSFORD, N.Y. – The St. John Fisher College women's volleyball team will look to continue its historic run as the Cardinals, who are receiving votes in the latest American Volleyball Coaches Association national poll, will strive to make it three Empire 8 Championships in a row when their season begins at 6 p.m. on Wednesday, September 1st on Bobby Wanzer Court against SUNY Geneseo.

"We are so grateful to be back to playing volleyball this season," added head coach Kelly Greapentrog who, along with assistant coach Nicksen Sivongsa, were named the Empire 8 Coaching Staff of the Year in each of the last two seasons.  "We open our season with a very tough non-conference schedule and I am excited to see how our team competes against some of the top programs in the country."

One of the more talented teams in the region, Fisher returns a loaded lineup headlined by two-time All-American Alea Steigerwald who was named the Empire 8's Player of the Year last season for the third year in a row.  Steigerwald, who was also applauded for her work in the classroom after being named All-District by the College Sports Information Directors of America, led the team and ranked third in the conference with 96 kills in only 28 sets.  The Penfield native enters the 2021 campaign ranked 10th in team history with 1,089 kills and is among the program's all-time leaders in digs with 906 to her credit through three seasons.   

Steigerwald won't be the Cardinals' only option at the net, however, as Gracie Jacob is set to build upon her freshman season that culminated with her being named the Empire 8 Rookie of the Year.  Jacob, who was also named Second-Team All-Conference, ranked second on the team with 68 kills and was third in total points with 76.5.  Flanking her are Lindsey DeBonis and Sydney French who combined to produce 101 kills overall.  DeBonis, who was named Second-Team All-Conference at the conclusion of the season, accounted for 67 kills, 83.5 points, 11 aces and 11 blocks while French added 11 blocks of her own to go along with 34 kills and 19 digs.

Expectations are high for both Kara Balmer and Delayne Young as the duo will look to take a big step forward after a the pair turned in a strong freshmen season.  Young, who was named to the Empire 8 All-Tournament Team, came on strong to close out her inaugural campaign after being credited with 55 digs, 46 kills and a team-leading 16 service aces while Balmer tied for the team lead in aces and was a force at the net with a team-high 18.0 blocks.    

Fisher is also deep at the setter position despite the loss of four-time All-Conference honoree Rebecca Hay who closed out her career ranked fifth in program history with over 2,500 helpers.  Senior Katie Leaty ranked second on the team last year with 120 assists and was named to the Empire 8 Championship's All-Tournament team while transfer Kelly Taylor joins the team after having ranked second in the conference last season with 269 dimes for the Nazareth Golden Flyers. 

Defensively, Fisher will turn to senior libero Julia Halsey who finished last year with 88 digs in 31 sets while both Kara Kingsbury and Alyssa Beyer will be expected to shoulder the load defensively.  The team will also benefit greatly from the leadership of its returning players including Jen Carl, and Brooklyn Kicherer.   
 
Greapentrog is also excited about the potential of this year's incoming class, which features a wide array of All-State, All-League and All-Greater Rochester honorees including Brooke Segars, Emma Smith, Emily Brochey, Olivia Nellis and Kristen McIntosh. 

After hosting the Knights on September 1st, the team travels to Ithaca to take part in the Bomber Invitational over the course of two days.  On September 3rd, Fisher will battle the Bombers before taking on the reigning National Champion Johns Hopkins Bluejays.  The Cardinals close out the tournament the following afternoon when they square off with Juniata in another non-conference tilt.

Six days later on September 10th, Fisher will compete in the North Country Invite in Potsdam and Canton where it will face Plattsburgh State and Clarkson University before wrapping up its stay against SUNY Potsdam the next morning.

The long road trip will continue the following weekend as Fisher makes its way to Oswego to take on SUNY Canton and St. Lawrence University on Friday, September 17th before rounding out the invite with matches against Potsdam and the host Lakers on September 18th.

On September 21st, Fisher will jump into Empire 8 play as it is scheduled to host Elmira College before traveling to Hartwick College and Russell Sage, respectively, on September 24th and September 25th.

The team returns home for a pair of matches beginning with The College at Brockport on Tuesday, October 5th before hosting Alfred University three days later on October 8th.
Fisher will make its way to the Southern Tier on October 9th where it will duke it out with the Soaring Eagles of Elmira in a non-conference pairing before battling Misericordia University immediately after.

Three days later on October 12th, Houghton comes to campus for an Empire 8 matchup, but the home stand will be short-lived with the Cardinals traveling to RIT on October 15th followed by a two-match set in Schenectady against Plattsburgh and host Union College on October 16th.

On October 19th, Fisher and Nazareth will battle it out in Kidera Gymnasium in a rematch of last year's conference title match before the Cardinals return home on October 22nd to tame the Wolves of Keuka College.

Fisher will make the trek to Utica on October 23rd before closing out the regular season with three consecutive home matches beginning with Fredonia on October 29th.  From there, the Cardinals will pair off with Rochester on October 30th followed by Buffalo State later that afternoon where the team will honor its senior class.

The Empire 8 Championship, which will be played at the highest overall seed, will begin the following week.

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