BEVERLY, MA – The No. 7 St. John Fisher men's volleyball team (16-5, 0-2 UVC) had it all going for them in a 3-1 win (25-14, 25-23, 22-25, 25-18) over the Endicott College (3-7) on Thursday, using a combination of 51 kills, 10.5 blocks, and nine aces to down the Gulls. The Cardinals have won three straight games, dating back to a March 4 win over the Hilbert College Hawks.
Player of the week to watch,
Griffin Stella, emphasized his strong start to the season, tallying three kills and three blocks in the first set. Up 11-4 early in the first, timely kills from Stella and
Zach Ciraolo, as well as consecutive aces from
Matt Beiter helped expand the lead to 17-8. The Cardinals would outpace the Gulls 8-4 over the last twelve points to take the first set in 25-12 fashion.
Fisher finished the first set with nine kills to just one error over 12 attempts, capping a 0.667% performance. Endicott also totaled nine kills, but eight errors across 19 attempts resulted in mild 0.053% clip.
Heading into the second, the Gulls looked to shift momentum, opening a quick 3-1 lead. The lead would not last for long, as a 6-0 run for the Cardinals forced an Endicott timeout. From there, the Gulls would fight back, eventually tying the score at 11-11, before taking their first lead of the day, up 13-11. The Cardinals deficit would swing to three, down 15-12 and would hold there for the next four points, forcing head coach
Matt Cohen to take his first timeout of the day. Out of the stoppage, Fisher would attempt to crawl back, but the Gulls would not relinquish the lead, forcing another timeout down 22-18. In the first point following the timeout, a competitive rally ended in the Cardinals favor, a critical point that helped push Fisher to a 4-0 run to retake the lead, 23-22. Back-to-back kills from Beiter and
Jake Baker helped put the second set away in sneaky fashion, 25-23.
Coming off a deflating second set, the Gulls were originally unable to counter the Cardinals commanding offense, with Fisher using a 6-1 run to open the third set. But the lead was short staked, as an 8-1 Endicott run helped the Gulls take an 9-7 edge. The Endicott lead would swell to seven, 19-12, before Fisher would recover, using a 6-3 run to make it a competitive 23-20 score. But the stretch would prove to not be enough, resulting in a 25-22 Endicott win, making the score 2-1.
The fourth set started with a 7-2 lead for Fisher, which would eventually prove to be enough to hold off Endicott. The Cardinals would go on to take the fourth set 25-18, topping the Gulls in four
The story in the win is the success of the middles. Stella would end with nine kills (0.438% mark) and six blocks, while Beiter supported with nine kills of his own (0.667%), with five aces. As a team, Fisher would hit 0.314% (51 kills, 18 errors, 105 attempts).
Also of note in the win was the 6-2 rotation that the Cardinals have transitioned to over their last three, using
Evan Ingerick and
Gavin Newman at setter, while adding
Zach Ciraolo to the fold.
The Cardinals will look to carry the momentum of a three-game win-streak to Saturday, when they take on the Massachusetts Institute of Technology Engineers (9-7, 0-2 UVC) in a crucial conference matchup.
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