Women's Volleyball | 11/14/2019 2:00:00 PM
The St. John Fisher College women's volleyball team will make its first appearance in the NCAA Division III Tournament since 1998 on Friday after earning an automatic berth into the 64-team field by winning the Empire 8 Championship for the first time in program history this past weekend.
The Cardinals travel to Clarkson University in Potsdam to face the Wesleyan University Cardinals at 12:30 p.m. for the first round of the eight-team single-elimination regional. Wesleyan earned an at-large bid into the National Tournament out of the New England Small College Athletic Conference.
Fans unable to make the trip up to the North Country can follow all the action by using the links below.
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REGIONAL INFO |
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Head Coach
Kelly Greapentrog's squad rolled its way over the Empire 8 by going undefeated against conference competition during the regular season. The Cardinals then took down Elmira in straight sets in the tournament semifinals on Friday, November 8th and then defeated Nazareth Saturday, November 9th by a score of 3-1. Sophomore
Alea Steigerwald, who was named E8 Player of the Year was also selected as the Tournament Most Valuable Player.
This is the fourth-ever appearance into the NCAA Tournament for Wesleyan, the third-straight for the Cardinals. In 2018, Wesleyan won its Regional to make its first appearance in the National Quarterfinals. The Cardinals are 20-4 this season while going 9-1 in NESCAC play to finish second in the league standings. In the conference tournament, they were eliminated in the semifinals. In the most recent AVCA National Rankings, Wesleyan is ranked 25
th in the nation. Fisher and Wesleyan shared two common opponents this season in Stevens and Hunter. Wesleyan went 2-0 while Fisher went 1-1 against those opponents.
Fisher has won the most games this year since their last appearance in the NCAA Tournament in 1998 with 23. In the two trips Fisher has made to the National Tournament, it owns a record of 1-2. Steigerwald leads the Cardinals in kills, service aces and digs. The Penfield native's 492 kills are tied with her own program record for most in a single season that she set in her freshman year. Junior
Rebecca Hay has the tenth-most assists in a single season in program history with 976.