ROCHESTER, NY – The Hartwick volleyball team took St. John Fisher to four sets on Saturday afternoon, but fell to the regular season Empire 8 champions, 15-25, 21-25, 25-21, 23-25. The win drops the Hawks to 13-10 overall and a final record of 3-4 in conference, while St. John Fisher improves to 20-8 and ends up undefeated in the Empire 8, at 7-0. The Cardinals will host the conference tournament in two weekends.
The first set started evenly, as the two teams were tied at 7 after Kayley Ericson (Franklin, CT/Norwich Free Academy) and Maria Sorriento (Troy, NY/Troy) blocked an Alea Steigerwald attack. St. John Fisher began to take control after that, scoring eight of ten points to take a 15-9 lead. They maintained that pace for the rest of the set, eventually winning by 10 points.
It looked like the second set would go the same way the first did, as St. John Fisher found themselves again up 15-9. From there, Hartwick went to work, and narrowed the gap to just one at 18-17 and 20-19. They could not keep it up, however, as Fisher grabbed five of the last seven points for the win, ending on a Lindsey DeBonis kill.
Down 10-9 in the third set, the Hawks began to grab control. They scored four straight points, finishing on a Dell Potts (Niverville, NY/Ichabod Crane) kill, and went on to take a 19-15 lead after Ericson and Celia Gagnon (Kinderhook, NY/Ichabod Crane) teamed up for a block. The Cardinals narrowed the gap to two a few times, including at 23-21, but 'Wick grabbed the final two points to secure the set win. Sorriento and Toria Betelak (North Syracuse, NY/Liverpool) blocked a DeBonis attack for the final point.
Fisher seemed like they would take the fourth set and the match nice and easy, scoring 10 straight points down 3-1 to command an 11-3 lead. Even after Hartwick scored four in a row to make the score 16-10, the Cardinals responded with four points of their own to retake the ten-point lead. At 21-11, the Hawks made a last-ditch comeback effort. They scored nine of 11 points to close the gap to three at 23-20, and eventually cut it to one at 24-23 on a Betelak kill. St. John Fisher finished the job, however, as Lauren Gilbert earned a kill on the next point to finish the match.
Sorriento led the Hawks with 11 kills and also had six blocks (a career high) and three digs. Betelak had seven kills and a career-high ten blocks as well as seven digs. Katie Boak (Liverpool, NY/Liverpool) led her side with 18 digs, Colette Maloney (Williston Park, NY/Mineola) had 11 digs and four kills, and Sarah Petz (Webster, NY/Webster Thomas) registered 10 digs. Ericson was the third Hawk to set a career high in blocks, with four; she also had a team-high 21 assists, eight digs, and two aces.
Three Cardinals had double-digit kill totals. Steigerwald led with 15, combining with her 19 digs for a double-double. She also had three aces and two blocks. Gilbert had a double-double as well, with 12 kills and 13 digs, and DeBonis ended up with 13 kills and nine digs. Rebecca Hay earned a third double-double for the home side, at 40 assists and 11 digs.
The Hawks begin their final week of play on Monday, when they travel down Route 28 for a date with SUNY Delhi at 6 p.m.
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