Women’s Volleyball Falls to #24 St. John Fisher in NCAA First Round

Wentworth Post-Match Press Conference

BALTIMORE, Md. – The Wentworth Institute of Technology women's volleyball team fell to the #24 St. John Fisher Cardinals in the first round of the NCAA Tournament on Thursday afternoon. Emma Sanders led the way with nine kills, hitting .391 on the afternoon. Kate McLane recorded seven kills, and Riley Schoonmaker tallied six finishes while Olivia Vaughn dished out 28 assists. Elena Davenport had five kills and one block.

HOW IT HAPPENED:

• The Cardinals scored the first three points of the game but kills from Sanders and Davenport tied the game at 5-5 in the early stages of the first set. St. John Fisher pushed the lead to three before another kill from Sanders gave the Leopards the serve. Schoonmaker's block and an attack error tied the game once again before Sanders' strong finish gave Wentworth the 14-13 lead. The Cardinals answered with two quick points and hit the 15-point mark first as the Leopards called a timeout. Three straight aces gave St. John Fisher a 17-14 lead, but Davenport's back-to-back tallies made it a one-point game. Wentworth kept the deficit at one behind another Schoonmaker kill at the net as the Cardinals took a timeout with a 20-19 lead. St. John Fisher held on to take the first set 25-20 and take a 1-0 lead in the match. Sanders had five kills in the first set while Schoonmaker and Davenport each had three.
• Sarah Gehrig tallied her first career kill to get the Leopards on the board first in set two. Wentworth pushed the lead to 4-0 with a kill from McLane and a service ace before the Cardinals answered with three straight points. Ava Rocchio and Sanders came up with a big block to keep the Leopards in front 7-3 as St. John Fisher called a timeout. Out of the break, the Cardinals went on a 5-1 run to tie the game before taking a 14-12 lead, forcing Wentworth into a timeout. St. John Fisher went on to score 11 of the next 19 points, taking the second set 25-20 to establish a 2-0 lead.
• Wentworth used a timeout early in the third set as the Cardinals built a 5-1 lead. St. John Fisher maintained its advantage at 12-6 before Schoonmaker's block and a service error gave Wentworth life. Rocchio's kill made it a five-point game before back-to-back scores pushed the Cardinals' lead to 15-8. St. John Fisher went on a 10-5 run to win the set 25-13 and complete the sweep.
• Amanda Zweifler recorded 10 digs in her final game as a Leopard and sits fifth in program history with 1,047 career digs at Wentworth. Vaughn holds the record for most assists with 2,185 as she finishes her third season. Sanders became the fifth player to reach 1,000 career points earlier in the year as she finishes her third season at Wentworth.
• As a team, Wentworth finished the season with a .238 hitting percentage, the best in program history. Their 11.79 kills per set and 10.77 assists rank fourth and fifth in program history, respectively. The 2025 Leopards rank fourth in program history in both block assists (230) and points per set (15.9).  

THE SERIES:

• Today was the 1st all-time meeting between the two teams.

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