Fredonia box l Clarkson Box l Tournament site
ROCHESTER, N.Y. -- Nazareth opened the Golden Flyer Invitational with a victory over Fredonia and Clarkson on Friday Evening. The scores of the Fredonia match were 3-2 (25-16, 18-25, 15-25, 25-20, 15-13) and Clarkson 3-2 (27-25, 25-23, 19-25, 21-25, 15-13). Against Fredonia sophomore Olivia Harrigan amassed a team-high 13 kills. In the second match against Clarkson sophmores Kassadra Buseck and Maria Allocco each had 15 kills.

With the victories, Nazareth improves to 4-2 overall. The Blue Devils fall to 1-4 overall following the loss, and Clarkson slipped to 4-2.

In addition to kills from Harrigan, senior Amy Johnson tallied nine kills and sophomore Buseck had seven kills against Fredonia. Senior Brittany Crocetti recorded three service aces and amassed a team-high 29 assists to set up most of the Golden Flyers' kills. Senior Aubrey Cooke added 11 assists.

On the defensive side, Crocetti, sophomore Chelsea Beecher, and Johnson each finished in double digits in digs. Crocetti had a team-high 15 digs, followed by Beecher with 12 digs and Johnson with 10. Johnson had a match-high four blocks with a solo block and three assisted blocks. Freshman Jennifer Hicks chipped in three assisted blocks.

After falling behind two sets to one, the Golden Flyers recorded 17 kills and a hitting percentage of .316 in the fourth set to tie the match at two sets apiece.

In the fifth set, Nazareth used a 10-2 scoring run to turn an 8-3 deficit into a 13-10 lead. During the run, Harrington and Johnson had two kills and one kill, recpectively. The Golden Flyers' defense forced Fredonia into three hitting errors, and Nazareth also took advantage of two service errors and a ball handling error.

Against Clarkson, Nazareth recieved 9 kills from Harrigan and 8 kills from Johnson. Crocetti was Nazareth's primary blocker with a team high 32 assists, and Cooke added 16 assists for the Golden Flyers. Beecher had 3 service aces and a team high 15 digs. Freshman Jennifer Goodman accumulated an additional 10 digs. Nazareth controlled the play at the net with 8 total blocks from Johnson and 6 from Buseck.

In the fifth set Nazareth surged to a 5-1 lead over the Golden Knights following hitting errors and a service ace by Crocetti and Beecher. Clarkson rallied with five of seven points to close the gap to 14-13. A block by Johnson and Buseck secured Nazareth's victory.

 Nazareth resumes action in the Golden Flyer Invitational on Saturday. Nazareth plays 13th-ranked Cortland at 11 a.m. and 19th-ranked Mt. Union at 3 p.m.