PITTSFORD, N.Y. – The St. John Fisher College men's volleyball team clinched the second overall seed in the UVC Championship after a senior night victory against rival Nazareth, 3-2, Wednesday night inside Manning & Napier Varsity Gymnasium. With the win, Fisher, which is receiving votes in the latest American Volleyball Coaches Association national poll, improves to 20-7 on the season, and 5-2 in the UVC, while Nazareth moves to 18-7 on the season, and 3-3 in conference play.
 
On his senior night, Josh Bigford was electric as he tallied a game-high 16 kills and nine blocks, while Jake Baked was also a threat finished with 15 kills to his name. Paul Hackford assisted on 38 kills and earned three blocks, while Libero David Cerqua found 14 digs. 
 
After winning the first set 25-16 behind three Bigford kills, the Cardinals and their home crowd had all the momentum moving into set two. The Golden Flyers however, would not be fazed as they jumped to an early 9-4 lead. 
 
As the set wore on, Fisher would create a 5-1 run to cut the deficit to one after four errors from the Golden Flyers. The comeback was short lived as Nazareth would generate a 6-1 run of their own to lead 19-13. Not going away easily, head coach Stephen England's squad would close the gap to three behind a pair of kills from Matt Beiter before Nazareth would find a kill and take set two, 25-21.
 
With the match tied up 1-1, The Cardinals came out hot in set three as a Gavin Newman ace allowed Fisher to take an early 4-1 advantage. After two points from Nazareth, the Cardinals continued to dominate as Matt Beiter found two kills and Paul Hackford earned one of his two aces in the match, giving the home team a 9-3 edge. 
 
From there, five errors from the Golden Flyers helped the Cardinals expand their lead to nine, before back-and-forth points by both teams would find the Cardinals leading 19-11. Several more attacking errors from Nazareth helped the Cardinals lead 23-14 before middle blocker Griffin Stella got the crowd on its feet after a kill assisted by Hackford.
 
The Cardinals were able to take set three after another attacking error from the Golden Flyers to now lead 2-1 in the match. Set four opened with both teams going kill-for-kill before Nazareth found momentum and rallied for a 7-1 run to lead 16-10. 
 
From there, the Cardinals looked to outside hitters Bigford and Baker for kills and closed the gap to four. The Nazareth lead would be too much as back-and-forth points allowed the road team to stay ahead and finish the set on a 4-1 run, to take round four 25-18 and send the match to set five.
 
Hoping to close out the match, England looked to Baker for some offense as the Junior found four-straight kills including a monstrous slam to get the crowd roaring, allowing Fisher to jump ahead 4-2. From there, it was all Cardinals as five errors from Nazareth opened the door for Fisher as they now led 10-4. Three-straight kills from Nazareth would not be enough as a service ace from Hackford and a 16th kill from Bigford would put the Cardinals in match-point position. With attention all over Baker and Bigford, Hackford looked to Matt Cieplicki down the middle as he found the floor to take the set 15-10 and the match 3-2. 
 
As a team, the Cardinals hit .237 with 49 kills, seven blocks, and 55 digs. 
 
The Cardinals will be back in action at 2 p.m. on Saturday as they travel to Springfield, Oh. To take on Mount St. Joseph University, and Wittenberg University at 4 p.m.