Box Score 1 | Box Score 2 Thiel box l Juniata box | Updated stats l Tournament site
ROCHESTER, N.Y. -- Second-ranked Nazareth split a pair of men's volleyball matches Saturday during the first day of the Golden Flyer Invitational at the Kidera Gymnasium. The Golden Flyers defeated Thiel in four sets by scores of 25-17, 27-29, 25-20, 25-17. The Golden Flyers then built a two-set lead against third-ranked Juniata before falling in five sets by scores of 22-25, 33-35, 25-22, 25-18, 15-10. Nazareth is 2-1 overall, while Juniata improved to 7-1. Sophomore Tim Zyburt had 13 kills and nine digs against Thiel. He had a match-best 19 kills against Juniata to go with five digs and three blocks.

In addition to the kills from Zyburt against Thiel, junior Luke Lawatsch recorded 12 kills and classmate Brody Cord finished with 11 kills. Sophomores Grant Levermore and Chris Mahan added eight kills and six kills, respectively. Junior Nick McDonagh amassed a match-high 47 assists as he organized the majority of Nazareth's attacks.

Defensively, Nazareth received nine digs apiece from Levermore, Zyburt, and sophomore Cory Randolph. Levermore also added two solo blocks and an assisted block while Lawatsch had a solo block and four assisted blocks.

Levermore and Lawatsch each had two service aces as Nazareth finished with a 6-2 advantage in aces over the course of the match.

Michael Whitelock had a team-high 10 kills and only one error on 17 attempts for Thiel. Whitelock also had two solo blocks. Corey Hamilton and Zack Rombach shared the setting duties for the Tomcats. Hamilton finished with 17 assists, and Rombach recorded 13 assists. Dylan Lasher and Ian Phillips each tallied seven digs.

In the Juniata match, the Eagles' Chad Albert had three of his 10 kills in the decisive fifth set and Paul Kuhn had two of his four service aces to fuel the Juniata rally. In addition to Zyburt's 19 kills, Mahan and Cord each had nine kills and Levermore had eight. McDonagh amassed 48 assists. Juniata relied on offensive balance with Kuhn and Alex McColgin each contributing 11 kills and Albert had 10. Setter Matt Elias had 45 assists and 11 digs.

The Golden Flyers are in action again Saturday evening when Nazareth hosts third-ranked Juniata at 6:30 p.m. Nazareth resumes the Golden Flyer Invitational on Sunday with a 3 p.m. match against fifth-ranked UC Santa Cruz.