HOBOKEN, NJ – In a rematch of the opening round of the NCAA tournament a season ago, the No. 11 Wentworth Leopards (27-7) sustained an early deficit to eliminate the No. 7 St. John Fisher University Cardinals (24-8 overall), ending the Cardinals season.
 
The Cardinals set the offensive tone early in the first set, relying on kills from Matt Beiter and Jake Baker to position Gavin Newman to the service line. Newman would tally two consecutive aces, tying the all time single-season service aces with a record he set a season ago, and moving the score to a 6-3 Cardinals edge. The difference would remain three for most of the set, as Fisher came out firing on both sides of the ball, hitting 0.242 and using 13 kills across 33 attempts. Additionally, the Cardinals held Wentworth to just a .194 hitting percentage in the first, forcing four errors and just 10 kills across 31 attempts. Fisher would clinch the set 25-21 on a kill on a kill from Baker, his third of the set.
 
Wentworth would take their first lead of the match in the second set up 5-4. The set would move to a four point difference, but following a Matt Cohen timeout, Fisher would rally four straight to tie the set 13-13. The run would be led by an ace from Newman, who took control of the single season service ace record for the second straight year. Down 22-21, Casey Jackson found a gap in the defense to nail a kill and keep the set deadlocked. After a Leopards point, Tyler Cohen forced the side out with a kill of his own, but the Cardinals would not be able to overcome the offense of the Leopards, dropping the pivotal set 25-23.
 
Into the third, Fisher fell down quickly 15-10, but would recover on an 11-5 run to take a 21-19 edge. Across the sixteen points, Josh Bigford recorded two aces and a kill, Baker connected for four kills, while Griffin Stella got involved with two kills of his own. But once again, the run would come up short, as a block from the Leopards captured the set by a 25-23 margin.
Fisher would face an early deficit in the fourth, beginning down 9-2 before piecing together key plays to chip into the difference. Evan Ingerick found a vacant lot for a kill, while Bigford and Baker helped to move the difference to five, down 20-15. The early deficit would prove too much for Fisher to overcome, as the Cardinals dropped set four, 25-17.
 
Baker recorded a double-double leading the Cardinals with 17 kills and 11 digs. The Cardinals were also strong from the service line, using four aces from Bigford and three aces from Gavin Newman. Ingerick commanded the offense with 30 assists, while Fisher finished the match hitting .242 with 18 kills and 18 errors across 124 attempts in the season ending loss.

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