Box Score Box | Updated stats
PITTSFORD,  N.Y. -- Visiting Nazareth outlasted St. John Fisher Wednesday in an Empire 8 women's volleyball match. The Golden Flyers overcame a shaky start to rally past the Cardinals in five hard-fought sets. Scores were 16-25, 25-23, 26-24, 28-30, 15-13.

Senior Maria Allocco had 24 kills to pace Nazareth offensively. Sophomore Madi Wickens amassed 50 assists and sophomore libero Maureen Thayer had 27 digs.

The Golden Flyers have won 12 of their last 13 matches to improve to 12-5 overall. Nazareth is 4-0 in Empire 8 matches. The Golden Flyers play two more conference matches Saturday at Elmira. Nazareth plays Elmira at 11 a.m. and Hartwick at 1:30 p.m. Fisher is 7-13 and 1-2 in conference matches.

Fisher dominated the first set by breaking away from a 9-9 deadlock to win 25-16. Nazareth prevailed in a close second set as Allocco, Olivia Harrigan and Jennifer Hicks each had three kills. With the set tied at 23-23, Nazareth got a kill from Hicks and a Fisher ball handling error to take the set.

In the third set, Nazareth fell behind 12-4 before rallying to win by two points. Nazareth finally squared the set at 20-20, but Fisher got a kill from Brooke Meader to reach set point at 24-22. Nazareth scored the last four points of the set -- Wickens and Hicks combined for a block, Harrigan added a kill and Fisher had two attacking errors.

The fourth set was a see-saw battle with Fisher taking the last two points on a kill by Anna Marcy and a Nazareth attack error. Allocco had seven of her kills in the set for Nazareth.

Nazareth led 4-2 in the fifth set after two kills by Allocco and one by Buseck. After Fisher tied the set at 6-6, Nazareth used two kills by Harrigan and a service ace by Allocco to go up 9-6. An ace from Wickens triggered a three-point run to extend the lead to 12-7. Fisher answered with six of the next seven points to tie the set at 13-13. Nazareth sealed the match with kills by Kassandra Buseck and Cady Messmer.

Buseck added 11 kills, Harrigan 10 and Hicks nine. Sophomore Rachel Williamson added five service aces and Harrigan added 11 digs.