Men's Volleyball | 4/16/2023 4:28:00 PM

POUGHKEEPSIE, NY – The No. 10 St. John Fisher University Cardinals (24-7, 3-3 UVC) could not sustain the relentless offense of the No. 1 Vassar College Brewers (24-1, 6-0 UVC) in the UVC Championship Finals on Saturday afternoon, ending the Cardinals hopes to repeat as UVC Champions for the second straight year.

The Brewers would set the tone early, pushing across three straight to open the first set. With the early deficit, the Cardinals would turn to Jake Baker, who would put down his first kill of the afternoon to get Fisher on the board. Baker would add his second kill of the day on a roll shot on an assist from Evan Ingerick, moving the score to 5-2. While the Cardinals would keep the deficit hovering around three for the next eight points, Vassar would exploit holes in the Cardinals offense to go up 12-7 and force a Fisher timeout. Gabe La Robardiere would be credited with his first kill of the day on the first point out of the timeout, but Vassar would continue to find ways to score, recording five of the next seven points to move their lead to eight, up 18-10. Three attack errors and a kill from Matt Beiter moved the difference to six, but Vassar would recover to take the opening set 25-16.

Baker would record his fifth kill of the day off a block to open scoring in the second set, and a back row kill off the single block from Josh Bigford gave Fisher the 2-1 advantage. The score would remain tight, as Tyler Cohen ripped a cross court kill and Bigford tallied another kill to keep the score tied at 7-7. Vassar would take use a kill of their own to take their first lead of the set, and Fisher would continue to pressure the Brewers on serve receive, keeping the margin one, down 11-10. But Vassar would once again go on a run, recording 12 of the next 15 points in a stretch that included six straight to move the advantage to 21-12. While Baker, Cohen and the Cardinals would recover and tally five of the next six to shrink the score to 22-17, the rally would not be enough, as Vassar would take set two by a 25-17 mark.

In the third, Fisher would put up a fight, keeping the score deadlocked at 12-12. But Vassar would once again capitalize on key plays, moving in front 19-13. The Cardinals would not be able to respond, dropping the third set and match 25-18.

The Cardinals offense performed well, hitting .297 with 32 kills, but Vassar outperformed the Cardinals in most statistical categories, recording 49 kills for a .476 hitting percentage. Baker continued his strong performance in the tournament, nailing 11 kills across 24 attempts to hit .292. Baker finishes the UVC hitting .313 with a team-leading 42 kills.

Gavin Newman contributed 19 assists and five digs in the loss, while Cohen found success with seven kills across 10 attempts and just one error, good for a .600 hitting percentage.

The Cardinals come up just shy of repeating as champions. The win gives Vassar an automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament, while the Cardinals will wait until 10 a.m. Monday morning to see if they did enough to earn a highly coveted at-large spot in the tournament.
 
Regardless, led by Bigford, the senior class of Graham Brodsky, Gavin Miller, and Matt Beiter have contributed significantly to the Cardinals program, amassing a 70-25 overall record (.737 win percentage), including a 16-9 regular season conference record, a UVC title, a NCAA berth, and two 20-win seasons across their tenure. 
 
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