Men's Volleyball | 3/15/2023 10:22:00 AM

PITTSFORD, NY – The No. 8 St. John Fisher University men's volleyball team (17-5, 1-2 UVC) will look to even up their conference record and extend their current four game win streak, as they play host to the Elmira College Soaring Eagles (10-4, 2-2 UVC) and the Penn State Behrend Lions (11-5).
 
Both games will be played at home in the Manning & Napier Varsity Gymnasium, with the matchup against the Soaring Eagles slated to start at 7 p.m. on Wednesday, March 15. Meanwhile, the Lions will roll into town for a 1 p.m. game start on Saturday, March 18.
 
Aces in their Places
Just two weeks removed from ending a road trip to New York City with an 0-2 conference record, Fisher has won four straight, and have an opportunity to win two more this week. Finishing with 33 service errors to just three service aces, the Cardinals re-centered from the service line.
 
From that point, the Cardinals witnessed a single game ace record posted by Gavin Newman, who finished with nine in the 3-0 win over Medaille on March 6. Over the four games since the trip, the Cardinals have tallied 32 aces and 49 errors, a much more competitive ace to error ratio.
 
Scouting the Opponents
The Soaring Eagles are off to their strongest start in program history, posting a 10-4 record to back their 2-2 record in UVC play. Elmira is coming off a Saturday in which they split, being swept by No. 11 New Paltz before sweeping Kean University.
 
A seven-game win streak over Elmira was broken last season, when the Soaring Eagles escaped with a 3-2 win. The loss against the Soaring Eagles marked the first since March 24, 2018 that Fisher fell to Elmira. After holding a 2-1 lead after three sets of play, Elmira took the final two sets to flip the script and win 3-2. Jake Baker led the Cardinals with 13 kills and Josh Bigford ended with 12 in the loss.
 
Fisher has bested Penn State Behrend in three straight contests, using an 11 kill performance from Bigford and a 10 kill game from Matt Beiter to pace the Cardinals last season. In the win last season, Gavin Newman tallied 48 assists and 12 digs to go along with three blocks.
 
Player to Watch
This week, Trace La Robardiere is the player of the week to watch. Trace ended the week with 24 digs and eight assists.
 
Meanwhile, Gabe La Robardiere is another player of the week to watch after being named Empire 8 Rookie of the Week for the fourth time this season, after tallying eight kills and five blocks in a 3-0 week for the Cardinals in wins over Medaille, Endicott, and MIT.
 
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