AMHERST NY – After a back and forth battle, the nationally-ranked St. John Fisher College men's volleyball team were defeated for just the second time this season against Daemen College, 2-3, inside Lumsden Gymnasium. With the loss, Fisher, who is ranked 14th in the latest American Volleyball Coaches Association, moves to 8-2 on the season, while Division II Daemen College improves to 5-2 overall.
 
Opening the match, the Cardinal defense set the pace, forcing the Wildcats to commit seven errors, giving the road team an early 9-6 advantage. 
 
From there, both teams alternated scoring until Paul Hackford and Jake Baker combined for three straight kills to give the Cardinals a 23-20 lead late in the first set. 
 
It was not enough to hold Daemen off as the Wildcats would find a rhythm and score five straight to steal the set 26-24, and go up 1-0 in the match.
 
Trying to find their footing, Fisher would find themselves down 8-14 in the middle of the second set before head coach Stephen England's leadership would help the Cardinals start a comeback. 
 
Starting a rally, Baker and Matt Beiter produced a total of six kills to come all the way back and tie the set 22-22. Both teams found offensive efficiency late in the set as it was kill after kill tying the score up 26-26.
 
The Cardinals caught a break as Daemen committed a service error which then put Griffin Stella to the service line. Stella would end up closing out the set with an ace giving Fisher a 28-26 win and tie the match up 1-1.
 
After a dominating third set where the Cardinals won 25-17 to go up 2-1 in the match, the momentum was all Fisher. However, the Division II group from Amherst would not go away easily as it was another back and forth battle in set four.
 
Tied up 22-22 late in the fourth set, Fisher would take a one-point lead after a monster block by Baker and Beiter. Once again, the two teams would go kill for kill as Gavin Newman and Stella kept the Cardinals alive in the set. 
 
Tied up 26-26, the Wildcats would eventually end the set 28-26, and tie the match 2-2 to send the contest into set five.
 
With the match on the line, set five opened with the Cardinals taking an 8-6 advantage after three Baker kills. 
 
From there, the lead would not hold as the Wildcats manufactured an 9-3 run to take a 15-11 lead to close out the set and knock off nationally-ranked Fisher 3-2. 
 
Baker led the Cardinals in kills with a career-high 21 followed by Beiter with 12 and Bigford with 8. Gavin Newman finished with 36 assists and seven digs along with two service aces, while David Cerqua tallied a match high 15 digs.  
 
Hoping to get back on track, the Cardinals will return home Saturday at 1 p.m. against Thiel College and against Baldwin Wallace University at 5 p.m. as they host the annual Fisher Invite.