PITTSFORD, N.Y.—The William Smith volleyball team saw its four-match win streak come to a close as it fell 3-0 in a non-conference matchup at St. John Fisher this evening. With the loss, the Herons fall to 11-3 overall, while the Cardinals improve to 12-6 on the season.
The back-and-forth battle saw both William Smith and St. John Fisher put up impressive numbers. The Herons combined for 37 kills (.217) as a team, while the Cardinals tallied 48 (.300) this evening. St. John Fisher held a 41-35 edge in assists, while William Smith held a 54-51 advantage in digs. The Herons served up 10 aces compared to the Cardinals' nine, while St. John Fisher tallied three blocks compared to William Smith's one.
First-year Cassidy Breuer led the Herons with nine kills (.240), 14 digs and two service aces in the loss. Junior Arielle Newsome added eight kills (.467), two digs and one block, while senior Maren Hunt chipped in seven kills (.429) and one dig out of the middle. First-year Senya Dorny recorded seven kills (.250), two digs, two service aces and a block, while junior Emily Fulton added six kills (.065), five digs and three service aces. Defensively, junior Kali Vanderhoof recorded a team-leading 16 digs in the loss.
Kaylene Noble led St. John Fisher with 14 kills (.382), nine digs, three service aces and a block, while Kalyna Dannenberg chipped in 13 kills (.242) and 11 digs in the win. Zofia Keogh led the Cardinals with 36 assists, 11 digs, three service aces and a block.
MATCH MOMENTS:
- William Smith opened the non-conference battle with a 13-kill (.206) performance in the opening set but was matched by a scrappy Fisher side that put down 15 kills (.364) of their own. The Herons jumped out to an early lead, but the Cardinals found a late push and scored the final three points of set one, securing a 25-23 win to open the match.
- St. John Fisher jumped out to an early 5-1 lead in the second set and never looked back. The Cardinals combined for 14 kills (.209), compared to the Herons' 12 (.103). Fisher closed out the second set on top, 25-20, thanks to two kills each from Dannanberg and Lydia Fraser.
- William Smith fought back in the must-win set, putting down 12 kills (.364) on zero errors but was matched with a match-high 19 kills (.341) for St. John Fisher. The Cardinals used a big kill from Ana Gutman to close out the sweep with a 26-24 win in the third set.
MATCH STATS:
- Breuer led the Herons with nine kills (.240), while Newsome added eight (.467) in the loss. Dorny (.250) and Hunt (.429) tallied seven kills each for William Smith while Fulton added six (.065) through three sets.
- Junior setter Delainy Williams tallied a team-leading 32 assists and added seven digs and two service aces on the afternoon.
- William Smith combined for 54 digs in the non-conference battle and were led by Vanderhoof with 16. Breuer added 14, while Williams and sophomore Madilyn Kresl chipped in seven digs each. Fulton added five, while Newsome and Dorny chipped in two digs each.
- The Herons served up 10 aces in the loss and were led by Fulton with three. Breuer, Williams and Dorny added two aces each, while Vanderhoof chipped in one service ace for William Smith.
COACHES CORNER:
"Tonight was a great learning opportunity for our team," said Head Coach Derryk Williams. "We scheduled tough opponents all season long and can continue to grow from the consistent level of competition. Fisher played an amazing match and we have to give credit to them for it. There's a lot of things we will take from this match heading into the weekend and second half of the season!"
UP NEXT:
William Smith will be back in action Saturday, Oct. 10, when it travels to Clinton, N.Y. for a non-conference matchup with Hamilton. Action between the Herons and the Continentals is set for 2 p.m.
