Box Score The St. Lawrence volleyball team fell to St. John Fisher 3-2 on Friday afternoon in Oswego, N.Y.

The Saints jumped out to an 8-2 lead in the first set when the Cardinals called a timeout to try to break up the momentum. The Cardinals recorded a kill on the next play, but it was not enough to slow down the Saints. Up 24-14, senior Annika Kreppein and first-year Rachel Boudreau shared a block kill to end the first set 25-14.

The second and third sets were much tighter. St. John Fisher took the second 25-18, and it looked like the Saints were going to take the third. Up 24-23, the Cardinals took the next three points to steal the set and go up 2-1.

"Our first set was easily the best set of the season," head coach Shelly Roiger said. "We came out with great energy and confidence and executed the game plan well. St. John Fisher made some nice adjustments and dominated set 2. We lost the match with our inability to finish the third set when we were up late. We had an opportunity to put the nail in the coffin and go up two sets to one but we didn't take care of business when we needed to. To the teams credit, we made a strong push late in the fourth set to force a fifth but we had far too many unforced errors in the final stanza."

The Saints battled back in the fourth, and looked to be cruising to a fifth set up 20-13 when St. John Fisher called a timeout to recalibrate. The Cardinals came out of the timeout fired up and scored six straight. Roiger called a timeout of her own, and the Saints regained control of the set. Senior Natalie Piper served two aces for the final points of the match to force a fifth set.

St. John Fisher jumped out to a 9-3 lead in the fifth set, playing to 15 points. St. Lawrence scored the next three, but Cardinals were able to take the fifth set 15-7 and the match.

"Tonight was the first full match of the season for some of our players on the court and they made some great contributions out of the gate tonight" Roiger went on to say. "We continue to make strides and tonight's match was great preparation for Liberty League play which begins on Friday. After the match we talked about the moments of 'should have and could have' and being more opportunistic. There's no doubt in my mind that growing is occurring and progress is being made. We are miles ahead where we were opening weekend as a team and we'll bring our best effort and focused play tomorrow vs Utica and Elmira."

Piper led the Saints with 21 kills, and added 13 digs. Kreppein recorded a career high 15 kills, along with a team high 24 digs.

Records: St. Lawrence (4-5), St. John Fisher (6-3)

Up Next: Utica College at 1 p.m., Elmira College at 3 p.m. on Sept. 18 in Oswego

Please note: Box score and statistics will be added when available.