Women's Volleyball | 11/20/2025 3:38:00 PM
BALTIMORE, MD – Teams need their star players to shine to win matches in the NCAA Tournament, and the St. John Fisher women's volleyball team got that and more on Thursday afternoon at Johns Hopkins University's Goldfarb Gymnasium. Behind beaming performances from freshman outside hitter Kalyna Dannenberg, junior outside hitter Kaylene Noble and senior setter Reilly Morrow, the Cardinals swept the Wentworth Institute of Technology, 25-20, 25-20, 25-13, for the program's first win in the NCAA Division III Tournament since 1997.
Fisher (30-1), which pushed its winning streak to 30 matches with the victory, will face the University of La Verne (26-2) in the second round at 4:30 p.m. on Friday.
Dannenberg, the Empire 8 Conference and AVCA Region III Rookie of the Year, finished Thursday's first-round match with 19 kills and a .441 hitting percentage. Her 19 kills marked the most by a Fisher player in an NCAA Tournament match during the rally scoring era (2001-present). She also led Fisher with 14 digs as part of her team-leading 10th double-double of the season.
A first-team AVCA All-Region selection, Noble pounded 16 kills and registered a red-hot .516 hitting percentage, the highest by a Fisher player in an NCAA Tournament match during the rally scoring era. Morrow, the Empire 8 Player of the Year, finished with 36 assists, five service aces, nine digs and a block. Her five aces marked the most by a Fisher player in an NCAA Tournament contest.
The Cardinals slammed their most kills (49) and logged their highest hitting percentage (.324) in an NCAA Tournament match.
How It Happened
The Cardinals never led by more than three points in the opening frame until separating at the end with a 5-1 run to secure a 25-20 victory. Dannenberg slammed seven of her kills and hit .455 in the set, while Morrow dished out 13 assists and aced three serves.
Wentworth jumped out to a 7-3 lead in the second set, but the Cardinals ripped off another 5-1 run to tie the score at eight. Minutes later, after the Leopards went ahead 12-11, the Cardinals used a 4-0 spurt to take a 15-12 lead. Fisher stayed in front from there and eventually secured another 25-20 victory.
Dannenberg slammed eight kills and hit .333 in the frame, while Noble recorded four while hitting .400.
The Cardinals made the final set quick, overwhelming Wentworth to the tune of 18 kills on a .517 hitting percentage to complete the sweep with a 25-13 win. Noble had nine kills in the frame, while Dannenberg slammed four and sophomore outside hitter Lydia Fraser recorded three. Morrow totaled 13 assists.
Match Notes
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The Cardinals reached 30 wins for the first time since 1993 with the victory.
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The Cardinals improved to 39-2 in their last 40 matches.
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The Cardinals have the second-longest active winning streak in the entire NCAA behind fellow Division III member East Texas Baptist (32 matches).
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Noble leapt past Anna Marcy (383 kills in 2017), Becca Smith (384 kills, 2011) and Alyssa Ziobrowski (386, 2008) to reach seventh on Fisher's single-season kills list. She has 396 over 95 sets across 31 matches.
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Morrow moved past Amy Street (2,747) for fourth on Fisher's career assists list. She has 2,775.
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Senior libero Kiera Hartpence and Fraser each recorded 10 digs.
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Hartpence moved up to seventh in Fisher history in career digs (1,563).
Up Next
The Cardinals face La Verne in the second round of the NCAA Tournament at 4:30 p.m. on Friday.