St. John Fisher Wins 2021 Empire 8 Spring Women's Volleyball Championship

Women's Volleyball | 4/25/2021 8:36:12 PM

For the second year in a row, the top-seeded St. John Fisher College women's volleyball team stands atop the Empire 8 after the Cardinals defeated third-seeded Nazareth College, 3-1, on Sunday to claim the 2021 Empire 8 Spring Championship inside Manning and Napier Varsity Gymnasium on Bobby Wanzer Court.  With the win, Fisher completed its perfect season at 9-0 while the Golden Flyers ended their year at 6-3.

Junior Alea Steigerwald was named the Championship's Most Valuable Player for the second consecutive year after recording eight kills and a team-high 17 digs in the title game.

Delayne Young finished the match with eight kills and seven digs while Lindsey DeBonis hammered home seven kills and had three blocks at the net.  Gracie Jacob produced six kills and accounted for four digs while Julia Halsey contributed 13 digs, five assists and a service ace.

Senior Rebecca Hay notched 15 digs and 13 assists at the setter position while Katie Leaty added 14 helpers of her own. 

Kaylee Kelly (13) and McKenzie Hart (11) combined for 24 kills to lead Nazareth. Kelsey Ludwig had a match-high 21 digs, while Hart added 17.

After swapping the first two sets, the Cardinals and Golden Flyers took the court in the third frame with Fisher jumping out to an early 5-1 lead following back-to-back errors by Nazareth. 

The visitors would climb back into contention with three straight points, but were unable to match Fisher's play at the net with head coach Kelly Greapentrog's squad building a 14-10 lead following two straight kills from Steigerwald.

As the set wore on, Fisher used a 5-1 run highlighted by three kills to open up a 24-18 cushion.  Nazareth would pull to within five after the Cardinals were whistled for a bad set, but the Golden Flyers had no answer for Steigerwald at the pins as the Penfield native smashed a kill to give Fisher a 2-1 edge.

In the fourth set, Fisher built an early lead courtesy of four unanswered points including two kills from Leaty to open up an 8-4 advantage.

Trailing by four, Nazareth came away with four of the match's next five points to climb to within three, but the Cardinals countered with three straight scores of its own including an ace from DeBonis to hold a 15-9 margin.

With momentum favoring the home team, Nazareth called a timeout to regroup and would force Fisher into a break after stringing together five of the set's next six points to make it 17-15.

Clinging to a slight lead, Fisher used its size with Sydney French and DeBonis coming up with a block that sparked a 6-1 run to close out the set and give Fisher its second crown in as many seasons.

As a team, Fisher clubbed 41 kills in the win and finished with a .173 hitting percentage.