St. John Fisher and Nazareth to Meet in 2021 Empire 8 Spring Women's Volleyball Championship After Semifinal Wins

Women's Volleyball | 4/22/2021 11:06:54 PM

Top-seed St. John Fisher College and No. 3 seed Nazareth College will meet for the 2021 Empire 8 Spring Women's Volleyball Championship after earning victories in the semifinal matches on Thursday, April 22. St. John Fisher knocked off No. 5 seed Alfred University in four sets, while Nazareth rallied from a two sets to one deficit to outlast No. 2 seed Elmira College in five sets.

Nazareth will head to St. John Fisher to take on the Cardinals in the 2021 E8 Spring Women's Volleyball Championship Sunday afternoon at 2 p.m. The two programs also met in the 2019 Empire 8 Championship, won by Fisher. The Cardinals and Golden Flyers met once earlier in 2021, with St. John Fisher rallying from down two sets to defeat Nazareth in five sets on April 2.

NO. 1 ST. JOHN FISHER 3, NO. 5 ALFRED 1
St. John Fisher moved to 8-0 in 2021 after defeating Alfred 25-17, 25-18, 20-25, 25-17 at Manning and Napier Varsity Gymnasium on Bobby Wanzer Court. The Saxons' season came to a close at 5-6.

Prior to the opening serve, Fisher took a moment to honor its three seniors who have given so much to the program over the last four seasons including Rebecca Hay, Molly Taylor and Alex Buhrle.

All-American Alea Steigerwald finished with 14 kills and a .333 hitting percentage over the four-set victory and added a team-leading 12 digs.  Gracie Jacob pounded down nine kills and had 11 digs of her own while Delayne Young added eight kills at the net.  Lindsey DeBonis chipped in with seven kills and four aces while Sydney French contributed six kills, four aces and five digs.

Fisher mixed in two setters over the four sets with Hay handing out 19 assists in the win.  Katie Leaty finished with 22 assists on the night and added 10 digs.

After cruising to a 25-17 win in the opening frame, Fisher jumped out to a 4-1 edge to begin the second set following a kill from Jacob and an ace from DeBonis. As the set continued, Alfred would pull to within one, 9-8, but Fisher scored three of the next four points including a kill from French to open up a 12-9 advantage.

The lead would eventually grow to five after an attacking error by Alfred before a 3-0 run by the Cardinals made it 21-14 in favor of the home team.  Alfred would pull to within five points, but was never able to generate any moment as a kill from Steigerwald and an error at the net by the Saxons gave Fisher a two-set cushion.

Trailing 2-0, Alfred found its groove in the third set and used a late 5-0 run to hold a 23-16 margin.  Fisher tried to rally late in the frame and came within four points, but a kill at the pins gave Alfred set point heading to the fourth.

Needing to win just one more set to punch its ticket to its second consecutive Empire 8 finale, Fisher hammered home six kills early in the fourth including two from Jacob to forge an 8-7 lead. 

Down by a point, Alfred regrouped and eventually regained the lead, 12-11, after stringing together three unanswered points, but the Cardinals proved to be too much at the service line with Kara Balmer serving Fisher to an 8-0 run fueled by six kills – three of which came from Steigerwald to make it 21-13.

The Saxons called a timeout to slow Fisher's momentum, but the damage had been done with the Cardinals clubbing four kills over their final four points to close out the set, 25-17.

NO. 3 NAZARETH 3, NO. 2 ELMIRA 2
Sophomore Kaylee Kelly had six of her match-best 24 kills in the fifth and deciding set for visiting Nazareth as the Golden Flyers held off Elmira in a five-set women's volleyball match. The Golden Flyers prevailed by scores of 22-25, 25-21, 26-28, 25-16, 15-9.

Nazareth pounded out 73 kills over the five sets with Kelly (24), McKenzie Hart (22) and Julia Cavanaugh (13) all produng career-best totals. Freshman setter Kelly Taylor posted a career-high 60 assists and sophomore libero Kelsey Ludwig had a career-high 33 digs.

After falling behind two-sets-to-one, Nazareth took set four in convincing fashion and then never trailed in set five. Kelly delivered kills on three of Nazareth's first four points in the set. Cavanaugh produced a block and two kills later in the set to extend Nazareth's lead. Then a kill by Hart made it 10-4. Kelly was able to close out the set and the match will kills on points 12, 14 and 15.

Elmira rallied to take the first set by scoring the last five points, including two on Nazareth hitting errors. Nazareth recovered to take the second set with Cavanaugh delivering the set-clinching kill.

In the third set, the lead changed hands 10 times with Elmira benefiting from eight Nazareth hitting errors and five service errors. The Golden Flyers cleaned up the errors for sets four and five with just one service error in set four and none in set five.

In addition to her 22 kills, Hart had 25 digs. Kelly had three service aces and Olivia Quick had seven kills and four blocks. Lydia Milligan had 12 kills for Elmira.