SPRINGFIELD, Oh. – The St. John Fisher College men's volleyball team swept competition on Saturday as they defeated Mount St. Joseph University, 3-0, and Wittenberg, 3-0, inside Pam Evans Smith Arena. With the wins, Fisher, who is receiving votes in the latest American Volleyball Coaches Association national poll, finishes its season 22-7 overall and 5-2 in conference play. 
 
FISHER 3, MSJU 0
                                     
After a 25-19 set victory that saw the Cardinals lead by as many as eight, Fisher kept its foot on the pedal as they jumped out to a 10-2 lead behind kills from Jake Baker, Josh Bigford, and Griffin Stella.
 
From there, the lions put together a 6-0 run to cut the lead to two. After back-and-forth points, a service ace from Matt Cieplicki put the Cardinals ahead 18-14. The Lions kept the match close after earning four of the next five points to make it a one-point game. 
 
Fisher would battle back and put the set away after five-straight points including kills from Paul Hackford and a service ace from Gavin Newman, before Matt Beiter would find the floor on a kill to take the set 25-19.
 
Looking for a 3-0 sweep, Fisher put on 7-1 run early in set three after another Newman ace and kills from Bigford and Beiter.
 
Keeping the momentum, Fisher extended its lead to an 18-12 advantage after Hackford found Cieplicki for back-to-back kills. 
 
The Lions would close the gap to three, before a third Newman ace and two kills from Bigford pushed the lead back up to 21-15. 
 
The Cardinals would finish off the match after a pair of errors from the Lions to take the set 25-17, and the match 3-0.
 
Bigford led the offense with nine kills, followed by Beiter with seven and Cieplicki with six. Newman was a threat from the service line as the freshman found four aces. Setter Paul Hackford earned 26 assists, while Libero David Cerqua tallied nine digs.
 
FISHER 3, WITTENBERG 0
 
After two quick points from the Tigers, Stella and Graham Brodsky found kills to take a 4-2 lead. A pair of service errors from the Tigers allowed the Cardinals to take a 5-point advantage. 
 
As the set wore on, back-to-back aces from Hackford extended the lead to 20-15, before kills from Brodsky and Bigford were set up by Hackford to take set one 25-19.
 
Set two saw the Cardinals manufacture an 8-1 run behind three service aces by Hackford allowing Fisher to take a comfortable 25-17 set victory. 
 
Looking for the second sweep of the day, the Cardinals offense continued to roll as pair of 4-0 runs allowed Fisher to take a 10-5 lead. The Tigers then produced several service errors to propel Fisher to a 10-point lead. 
 
From there, Stella and Cieplicki created kills, along with a Trace La Robardiere ace found the Cardinals two kills away from completing the sweep. A pair of points from the Tigers cut the Fisher lead to seven, before Bigford earned his fifth kill of the match to close out the set 25-16, and the match 3-0.
 
Stella led the way with seven kills, followed by Bigford with five. Hackford produced a career-high five aces along with 18 assists, while Cerqua found himself eight digs. 
 
The Cardinals will return to action in the United Volleyball Conference Championship in New Paltz as the team earned the two-seed and a first-round bye.