Box | Updated stats | Tournament site
HOBOKEN, N.J. -- Second-seeded Nazareth claimed its third straight Empire 8 Conference championship in women's volleyball Sunday as the Golden Flyers knocked off top-seeded and host Stevens in four sets. Scores were 25-20, 21-25, 27-25, 25-23.

Nazareth avenged its only conference defeat of the season and improved to 29-8 overall. Nazareth will make its third straight NCAA Tournament appearance and 11th overall. Junior middle blocker Maria Allocco was named tournament MVP for the third year in a row after delivering 13 kills with just two hitting errors in 20 attempts. She also had six blocks.

Junior outside hitter Chelsea Beecher also had a strong match and was named to the all-tournament team with a match-high 14 kills against one error in 32 attempts. Sophomore Jennifer Hicks also represented the Golden Flyers on the all-tournament team with 10 kills with two errors in 19 attempts.

Nazareth's balanced attack also included 10 kills each for juniors Kassandra Buseck and Olivia Harrigan. Freshman Madi Wickens totaled 40 assists and 17 digs and freshman libero Maureen Thayer had 17 digs and two services aces.

The Golden Flyers were efficient offensively and defensively as they posted a .300 hitting percentage (59-17-140) while relegating the Ducks to a .140 percentage (42-22-143).

Nazareth trailed for a good portion of the fourth set and was down 23-21 before calling a timeout. The Golden Flyers closed out the set and the match with four straight kills -- one by Allocco, one by Hicks, one by Beecher and the match-clinching spike by senior Christy Burczak for her only kill of the match.

The third set also proved pivotal as Nazareth built a 13-6 lead only to have Stevens rally to tie the set at 20-20. The teams exchanged points and the set was tied again at 24-24 following a Nazareth timeout. Buseck and Allocco each recorded kills and a ball-handling error by Stevens turned the set over to Nazareth.

Nazareth used a .467 hitting percentage (16-2-30) to dominate the first set. Allocco, Harrigan and Hicks each had four kills. Stevens carried the second set as Mary Caulson recorded four of her team-best 11 kills.

"It was a gutsy effort by our girls," said Nazareth Coach Cal Wickens. "There were a lot of times that we could have packed it in, but we stayed the course."

First-round pairings for the NCAA Tournament will be announced Monday.