NEW PALTZ, N.Y. - The Vassar men's volleyball team fell to St. John Fisher in the UVC Championship Semifinals on Saturday evening. After taking the first set, 25-23, the Brewers dropped the following three 19-25, 23-25, and 21-25. St. John Fisher will play host New Paltz in the UVC Championship game tomorrow.

In the first set, two aces from junior Adam Gulick put the Brewers up 5-2. St John Fisher cut the lead to one but kills by Gulick, Andre Kim, and Gavin Akoto put Vassar ahead 10-6. Vassar remained in control, but the Cardinals used a 5-3 run to tie 20-20 following a Matt Beiter service ace. First-year, Payne Lounsbery responded with a kill, and Akoto and Lounsbery then blocked a Matt Cieplicki attack to make it 22-20. A block from St. John Fisher's Josh Bigford put the score at 24-23, but a service error gave Vassar a set point.

The Cardinals evened the match in the second set by jumping to a 4-8 lead. Vassar struggled to find its rhythm but kills by Akoto and Lounsbery cut the lead to 12-16. St. John Fisher continued to hold the lead before Jacob Kim and Gulick knocked in kills to make it 17-21. Vassar was able to add one more kill from Gulick, but Jake Baker sent in the final kill to tie the sets 1-1.

The third set remained close, and senior Jake Kaplan sent in an ace to tie 12-12 midway through. The Cardinals answered with a 4-1 span to force a Vassar timeout. Lounsbery came out with a kill, and then Akoto and Jacob Kim added two more to close the gap to 16-17. After some back-and-forth points, Gulick hit a kill to tie 20-20. It went down to the wire, with St. John Fisher taking a 23-24 lead after a kill from Josh Bigford. A final block from Paul Hackford gave the Cardinals a 1-2 set advantage.

There were eight ties in the fourth set, and with the score at 9-9, the Cardinals knocked in the successive two kills to take a 9-11 lead. Gulick kept it a one-point set when he launched in a kill, but St. John Fisher held a narrow advantage. Kills by Andrew Kim and van Beveren made it a 15-17 set, but the Cardinals tallied the following two points to make Vassar use a timeout. The Brewers cut the lead to 18-20 after Gulick hit a kill, but the Cardinals used a 3-1 run to go up by four. Then it was the Cardinals' Griffin Stella sealing the match win with a kill.  

Gulick and Andrew Kim each tallied 16 kills to lead the Brewers. Lounsbery added ten kills, while Akoto finished with seven. Jacob Kim dished out 47 assists, while van Beveren recorded four blocks. Jorge Adames Reyes tacked on a match-high 12 digs.

Bigford topped the Cardinals with 13 kills, and Stella had seven kills and seven total blocks. Evan Ingerick led St. John Fisher with ten digs.

Vassar now awaits its future to see if it receives an at-large bid into the NCAA Division III Tournament. The selection show is on Mon. Apr. 11 at 10 a.m.