Women's Volleyball | 10/12/2021 8:25:00 PM
PITTSFORD, N.Y. – The St. John Fisher College women's volleyball team clinched a berth in the upcoming Empire 8 Championship on Tuesday night as the Cardinals overwhelmed visiting Houghton College in straight sets in an Empire 8 tilt inside Manning and Napier Varsity Gymnasium on Bobby Wanzer Court. With the win, Fisher, which has now claimed 13 straight victories, improved to 16-3 on the year and remains unbeaten in league play at 5-0. The Highlanders closed out the evening at 7-7 and 3-3, respectively.
After taking the first and second sets, 25-15, Fisher opened up an early 3-0 edge in the third set, but Houghton kept pace with a 3-0 run of its own. As the set wore on, Fisher and Houghton continued to trade points with the score remaining even at 11 points apiece.
From there, Fisher would regain control and rattled off six of the set's next eight points including three successive kills to open up a 17-13 cushion. Leading by four late in the frame, the pace quickened with Fisher hammering home four consecutive kills including a pair by Alea Steigerwald to forge ahead, 21-15.
As the set wore on, Houghton would cut the gap to five, but ran out of steam as Kara Balmer and Lindsey DeBonis put away back-to-back kills to close out the contest.
Steigerwald, who was named the Empire 8 Player of the Week on Monday, finished the win with 13 kills and six digs to go along with three aces while Sydney French contributed six kills and had one block assist. DeBonis and Gracie Jacob each had four kills overall while Olivia Nellis chipped in with three kills of her own. Katie Leaty stuffed the stat sheet with 32 assists, five digs, two kills and an ace while Kara Kingsbury was credited with six digs over three sets.
As a team, Fisher hit .384 on the match and finished with 10 service aces and six blocks.
Fisher will look to earn its 14th consecutive win when it returns to action at 6 p.m. on Friday in another pivotal regional pairing against the Rochester Institute of Technology Tigers.