UTICA, NY – The St. John Fisher University men's volleyball team took down Misericordia and Nichols College Sunday, improving their record to 7-1 on the season. Following the weekend sweep, the Cardinals, who entered the week no. 11 in the country, will debut at home against Division II Daemen College on Sunday, Jan. 29 at 2 p.m.
 
Fisher 3, Miscericordia 1
 
The Cardinals bested the Cougars for the second time in a week, this time in a 3-1 fashion. In the first set, with the game tied at 9, the Cardinals took a 20-16 lead behind kills from Griffin Stella and Casey Jackson. After maintaining at least a four point edge, the Cardinals took the first set on a kill from Jake Baker. 
 
While the Cougars jumped ahead 9-4 in the second set, quietly the Cardinals bounced back to tie the game at 11. The next 10 points went back-and-forth, knotting the set at 16. From there, the Cougars took four of the next five, opening a 20-17 edge and forcing a Fisher timeout. After the Cardinals brought the score to 23-23, Misericordia took a timeout. A kill from Ian Rauh gave Fisher the advantage and set point but relentless Cougars would bounce back and take the second set 28-26. In the second set, both teams hit over 0.300, with Fisher hitting 0.333 (10 kills, five errors) and Misericordia hitting 0.364 (18 kills, six errors).
 
Looking to bounce back in the third set, Fisher opened up a six-point edge, up 16-10 to force a Cougar timeout. Kills from Jackson, Baker, and Stella propelled Fisher to a 22-18 lead, and Rauh would put down the kill to take the third set 25-21, to give Fisher the 2-1 lead. The fourth set was the least competitive of the game, with the Cardinals winning 25-18. 
 
Coming off a career night, Baker finished with 14 kills and a 0.324 hitting percentage, while Ruah contributed a career high 10 kills. Stella finished the game with seven kills and four blocks and Gavin Newman added 18 assists, an ace, a dig, and a block in the win. 
 
After a career high 10 kill performance, Rauh acknowledged the excitement of the weekend: "We had two big wins against Wentworth and SUNY Potsdam last night, and the energy of those wins carried over into Saturday…it's tough to play four games in one weekend, but the team is expected to execute at the same level. We aim to go 1-0 in every game, and we did just that."
 
Fisher 3, Nichols 0
 
The Cardinals capped their weekend with a three set win over Nichols, improving their overall record to 7-1. In the first set, Fisher finished with 10 kills and one error, good for a 0.474 hitting percentage; a stark contrast to the -0.074 clip that Nichols was staked to. The Cardinals never looked back after taking a 10-9 lead, eventually taking the opening set 25-14.
 
In the second set, Nichols maintained the deficit, keeping the game at a one-point difference, down 18-17. Fisher was able capitalize on three team errors from Nichols, going up 22-18. From there, the Cardinals would close out the second set with kills from Stella and Baker.
 
In the third set, Baker rattled off four kills as part of his nine-kill performance. As a team, the Cardinals would tally 13 kills in the third set, good for a 0.391 clip while Nichols was held to a 0.143 (12 kills, eight errors) hitting percentage.
 
The advantage for the Cardinals came from at the net, as the team finished with 13 blocks, compared to just three from Nichols. ­Gabe La Robardiere paced the Cardinals with eight blocks and added three kills offensively.
 
Fisher will look to emulate their success next weekend against Daemen.
 
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