HUNTINGTON, PA – The No. 8 St. John Fisher University men's volleyball team (9-3) was able to topple No. 3 Messiah University, winning in a commanding 3-0 fashion (25-20, 25-23, 26-24). With the loss, Messiah drops to 6-1 on the season. The Cardinals would wrap up their weekend by beating Penn State Altoona in three sets (25-14, 25-10, 25-20). The loss keeps Penn State Altoona still looking for their first win of the season, after starting out 0-7. Meanwhile, with the two wins on Saturday, Fisher improves to a 9-3 record.

Fisher 3, Messiah 0
The first set started in a back and forth fashion, with both teams tied at 16-16. Late in the set, a kill from Jake Baker followed by two consecutive aces gave the Cardinals a comfortable 3-point lead, 19-16, forcing a Messiah timeout. Out of the timeout, Evan Ingerick and Josh Bigford tacked on consecutive kills to widen the lead to 21-16, costing Messiah their second timeout. The Cardinals would score three of their next four points on Messiah errors, en route to a 25-20 first set.

Fisher finished with 13 kills in the first set, mishandling just two balls, hitting at a 0.423% clip.

The second set started in similar fashion, with both teams tied at 13-13. The teams would go on to split the next 12 points, finding themselves tied at 19-19. An ace from Bigford helped to ignite a short lived 3-1 run, to give them a 22-20 edge. After the Falcons would fight back to knot the set at 23-23, but another kill from Baker was followed by a Falcons error to cap off a 25-23 second set victory.

Looking to prevail in three, the Cardinals opened a 14-12 lead. The lead would swell to four at 17-13. The Cardinals would split the next four points to bring the score to 19-15. But the Falcons would bounce back with three straight to force a Cardinal timeout. The Fisher lead would shrink to one, at 23-22, before Messiah would add a critical kill to tie the third set at 24-24. Another kill from Bigford, his 14th of the game, would support the 26-24 third set victory. Fisher would finish hitting 0.414% in the third set, with 14 kills and two errors across 29 attempts. 

The Cardinals held Messiah to a 0.238% with 45 kills and 20 errors over 105 attempts. 

Evan Ingerick supported the 35 Fisher kills with 32 assists and three digs. Meanwhile, Baker finished with a respectable seven kills on path to a 0.357% mark, adding two aces.   

Fisher  3, Penn State Altoona 0
Fisher opened up a wide 6-1 edge in the first set. While the Lions would fight back, the defense of the Cardinals propelled them to a 25-14 win in the first set. Penn State Altoona struggled offensively in the first set, finishing with only seven kills to eight errors in the first set, hitting -0.034%. 

The offensive onslaught continued into the second set, where the Cardinals found success with 13 kills. After opening up a 10-6 lead, Fisher would rattle off the next 11 points, supported by two aces from Stella and multiple kills from Graham Brodsky and Ian Ruah. The second set ended in a 25-10 fashion. 

Moving into the third, Penn State Altoona kept it close early, 5-5. Rauh would add three more kills to being the score to 13-7, allowing Penn State Altoona to take their first timeout of the third set. The difference remained six throughout much of the set, finishing off the contest with a Tyler Cohen kill.

Rauh led the Cardinals with 9 of their 40 kills. As a team, the Cardinals added four kills and seven blocks.

The Cardinals will return to action next weekend, when they host the Fisher invite at the Manning & Napier Varsity Gym. The Cardinals will play Trine University at 6 p.m. on Friday, Feb. 10 before facing SUNY Poly at 8 p.m. Fisher will wrap up their weekend facing the University of Mount Union on Saturday, Feb. 11 at 2 p.m.

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