Men's Volleyball | 3/16/2022 10:00:00 PM

Elmira, N.Y. – The nationally-ranked St. John Fisher College men's volleyball team fell to Elmira College in a United Volleyball Conference matchup in five sets on Wednesday evening inside Speidel Gymnasium. With the loss, Fisher, which is ranked 14th in the latest American Volleyball Coaches Association, falls to 16-7 overall, and 3-2 in the UVC, while the Soaring Eagles improve to 13-9, and 2-4 in the conference. 
 
Jake Baker led the way with 13 kills, followed by Josh Bigford with 12, while Matt Cieplicki finished with nine kills to his name. Griffin Stella was a force at the net, as the freshman finished the match with four blocks, while Bigford and Baker notched two blocks of their own.  Paul Hackford assisted on 28 kills and tallied six digs, while libero David Cerqua found himself a game-high 12 digs.  
 
After dropping the first set, the Cardinals jumped out to a strong 9-3 lead after a pair of kills from Baker and back-to-back blocks from Stella. 
 
From there, the Soaring Eagles put together an 11-5 run to tie the match at 14-14.
Kills from the Fisher offense and errors from Elmira allowed the Cardinals to jump ahead 21-17 late in set two. 
 
A late push from the Soaring Eagles closed the gap to one, but it would not be enough as the Cardinals closed the set on a 4-1 run behind a pair of Bigford kills, claiming set two 25-21, and tying the match up 1-1. 
 
Set three saw a back-and-forth battle until Elmira would put together a 7-3 run to take a commanding 23-19 lead.  
 
After an Elmira service error, Evan Ingerick entered the game for the Cardinals as the freshman setter would put on a masterful performance finding four-straight kills to Cieplicki, Baker and Matt Beiter. 
 
With a 24-23 lead, an Elmira attacking error completed the comeback set giving the Cardinals a 2-1 match lead.
 
After the Soaring Eagles took set four to push the match into a do-or-die set five, the Cardinals were looking to win a third-straight five-set match on the season.
 
Early in the set, Fisher found itself tied 6-6 following a Baker kill. From there, Elmira pulled away with a 9-4 run to close the set 15-10, and defeat the Cardinals 3-2 in the match. 
 
As a team, the Cardinals finished with 47 kills, hitting .252 with four aces, six blocks, and 39 digs.
 
The Cardinals will return to play with a doubleheader as they travel to Dallas, Pa. to take on Wilkes University at 2 p.m. and Misericordia University at 4 p.m.