QUICK FACTS
Head Coach: Kelly Greapentrog (18th season)
2025 Record: 30-2 (11-0 Empire 8 Conference)
2025 Leaders: Kills (Kaylene Noble, 401), Points (Kaylene Noble, 433), Hitting Pct. (Ana Gutman, .328), Assists (Reilly Morrow, 974), Service Aces (Lydia Fraser, 76), Digs (Kiera Hartpence, 361), Solo Blocks (Ana Gutman, 13), Total Blocks (Ana Gutman, 81)
SETTING THE SCENE
One of the most consistent programs in the region and beyond over the last nine seasons, the St. John Fisher University women’s volleyball team once again has big expectations entering the 2026 season.
The Cardinals, led by 2025 Region III Coach of the Year Kelly Greapentrog, who enters her 18th season at St. John Fisher, return a decorated core of players from a 2025 team that authored an unforgettable 30-2 season. During the historic ride, Fisher set program single-season records for wins and three-set sweeps (25) during the rally scoring era, reached 30 wins for the first time since 1983, earned a spot in the AVCA Top-25 for the first time and won an NCAA Tournament match for the first time in 27 years, sweeping Wentworth in the first round. All 30 of the Cardinals’ victories came consecutively, the longest winning streak in program history and the second-longest by a team during the 2025 season at all three NCAA levels entering the second round of the NCAA DIII Tournament.
Despite losing 2025 All-American and Empire 8 Player of the Year Reilly Morrow (setter) and multi-time All-Region honoree Kiera Hartpence (libero) to graduation, the Cardinals still bring back four players who’ve been All-Americans in their collegiate careers. That list includes sophomore Kalyna Dannenberg, junior Lydia Fraser and seniors Ana Gutman and Kaylene Noble.
St. John Fisher set program single-season records for AVCA All-Region honorees (5) and AVCA All-America honorees (3) last season. The Cardinals’ three AVCA first-team All-Region selections – Dannenberg, Morrow and Noble – also marked a single-season high for the program.
PLAYERS TO WATCH
Kalyna Dannenberg, So., OH – Named 2025 Empire 8 Conference and American Volleyball Coaches Association (AVCA) Region III Rookie of the Year, Dannenberg accounted for 359 kills while hitting nearly .260, totaled 35 blocks and aced 33 serves while accounting for 413.5 points last season. She also provided sound defensive play with 259 digs, the second most on the team behind Hartpence, a two-time Empire 8 Defensive Player of the Year honoree. Dannenberg produced eight double-doubles over 32 matches, including in the Cardinals’ NCAA Tournament victory over Wentworth, when she smashed 19 kills while hitting .414 to go with 14 digs. The first-team AVCA All-Region selection hit better than .300 in 14 matches and totaled 15 or more points in eight contests.
Kaylene Noble, Sr., OH – Noble, a three-time AVCA All-Region honoree and two-time AVCA All-American, enters her final collegiate season on track to be all over St. John Fisher’s record book. The 2025 All-Empire 8 and All-Region first-team pick currently has 1,093 kills, one shy of 10th in Fisher history, and 1,222 points, currently eigth in program history. Noble last season posted her most prolific numbers to date, slamming an Empire 8-best 401 kills (4.09 per set) while hitting .321 and accounting for 433 points in all (4.42 points per set). She also amassed 252 digs (2.52 per set), 29 blocks and 13 service aces. Noble, who played in all 32 of the Cardinals’ contests, recorded eight double-doubles, 10 matches with more than 15 kills, 13 matches with at least 15 points and 21 matches with a .300 hitting percentage or better. She earned Empire 8 Tournament MVP honors after she slammed 40 kills while hitting .317 and amassed 20 digs, three total blocks and three service aces while leading the Cardinals to a second straight conference title, a run that included sweeps of Alfred, Geneseo and Hartwick.
Lydia Fraser, Jr., OH – A first-team All-Region and honorable mention All-America honoree as a freshman in 2024, Fraser accounted for more than 300 points in each of her first two collegiate seasons. Entering her junior year, the two-time All-Empire 8 selection has a well-rounded career statline of nearly 600 kills, 123 service aces, 504 digs and 45 blocks. Fraser led the Cardinals and the Empire 8 with 76 service aces – tied for fourth in Fisher’s single-season record book – last season. She ranked 10th nationally in aces per set (0.80) and tallied three or more in 12 matches. Her seven aces in a sweep of SUNY Poly marked the most by any Empire 8 player in a match last season.
Ana Gutman, Sr., MB – The most efficient attacker the Cardinals have ever had, Gutman will enter the 2026 season with a spectacular .352 hitting percentage, the top mark in program history by a wide margin. The three-time AVCA All-Region honoree has smashed more than 150 kills and hit better than .320 in each of the last three seasons. In 2024, when she earned AVCA All-America honors, she registered the second-highest hitting percentage (.390) by a Cardinal in a season and slammed a career-high 243 kills. Gutman has also had a strong defensive presence at the net throughout her career with 226 total blocks (47 solo), including 87 as a freshman in 2023 and 81 as a junior in 2025.
DID YOU KNOW?
The Cardinals have won 39 of their last 42 matches since losing to rival Nazareth on Oct. 23, 2024. They are 21-0 against Empire 8 opponents in that span, one of the longest winning streaks against conference foes in the country. Only nine other DIII teams have longer winning streaks against conference competition.
