PITTSFORD, N.Y. – The nationally-ranked St. John Fisher College men's volleyball team picked up two wins on Saturday as the Cardinals defeated Thiel College and Baldwin Wallace University to open the Fisher Invite inside Manning and Napier Varsity Gymnasium on Bobby Wanzer Court. With the wins, Fisher, which is ranked 14th in the latest American Volleyball Coaches Association poll, improved to 10-2 overall.
FISHER 3, THIEL 0
The Cardinals held an early advantage in the opening set after
Paul Hackford and
Matt Beiter combined for a block at the net to stake Fisher to a 5-3 lead early on. The Tomcats, however, would counter with five of the match's next six points to surge ahead, 9-7.
Trailing by two, the Cardinals regained their footing and eventually built an 18-14 cushion after three straight points including kills from
Griffin Stella and
Matt Cieplicki. Down by four, Thiel would get one back on a Fisher error at the service line, but the Cardinals continued to leverage their size and speed as they scored five unanswered points fueled by four kills to claim a 23-15 advantage.
As the set wore on, the Cardinals locked up a 25-17 win following a service error by Thiel and a kill from Beiter to hold a 1-0 edge.
Head coach
Stephen England's squad carried its momentum over into the second set as the Cardinals cruised to a 25-13 win before opening the third frame with a 15-4 run that included eight unanswered points to begin the set.
Holding a significant lead late in the third, Fisher put the match away with three of the set's final four points including kills from Beiter and
Josh Bigford to complete the straight-set sweep.
Bigford and
Jake Baker each finished with 14 kills in the win with Bigford adding six digs and a service ace overall. Beiter added six kills and had two blocks for Fisher while Hackford handled the setting duties and was credited with 36 assists paired with 11 digs and two blocks.
David Cerqua posted six digs, four assists and a kill at libero.
As a team, Fisher hit .500 in the win after hammering home 45 kills against just four errors.
FISHER 3, BALDWIN WALLACE 0
A sluggish offensive start for the Cardinals turned into the Yellow Jackets building as much as a four-point lead in the first set. Fisher battled back to tie it all up at 11, sparked by a big swing from
Ivan Lopez and back-to-back service aces with Bigford dealing.
The Cardinals finally grabbed their first edge of the game as assists from Hackford were dished to Cieplicki and Beiter for a 16-14 lead. The two-point advantage remained until the Cardinals went on their first long scoring run, with eight of the set's final 11 points for a 25-19 win.
The squads traded points in the opening of the subsequent frame, until Fisher went on a 5-1 run to gain a four-point advantage. Although Baldwin Wallace trimmed the lead to just two, four-straight Fisher points, capped off with a Baker kill, led the scoreboard to read 14-8 in favor of the Cardinals. Back-and-forth play wore on, before Lopez sent home consecutive kills and two final points from Cieplicki wrote the set's final at 25-17, giving the home squad a 2-0 sets advantage.
Fisher earned three-straight points to start the final set – a lead that would not be relinquished although the Yellow Jackets came to within a point's differential. Fisher capped the day off with its firepower on full display as four-straight kills from Bigford, Baker, and Cieplicki, then consecutive Baker kills wrote the final line score at 25-19.
The Cardinals hit 41-of-74 for a swinging percentage of .432 and making just nine attacking errors in the matchup.
Cieplicki, Baker, and Beiter each tallied a game-high nine kills in the match, while Lopez contributed eight kills and three blocks on a team-high .778 hitting percentage and Bigford tallied 9.5 points on six kills and three service aces. Hackford dished out 30 dimes in the nightcap and posted seven digs while Cerqua had a game-high nine digs to pair with four assists of his own.
The Cardinals will have a quick turnaround as they cap off the final day of the Fisher Invite against No. 7 Rutgers-Newark at 3 p.m. on Sunday inside Manning and Napier Varsity Gymnasium on Bobby Wanzer Court.
