D'Youville box | Elms box | Updated stats
UTICA, N.Y. -- Ninth-ranked Nazareth defeated D'Youvillle and Elms in its first two matches of the SUNY Polytechnic Institution Invitational. The Golden Flyers defeated D'Youville in four sets by the scores of 25-15, 25-19, 19-25, 25-12. Against Elms, Nazareth swept the Blazers by the scores of 25-14, 25-11, 25-21. Junior Grant Levermore recorded nine kills on 10 total attempts to lead the Golden Flyers against Elms.

With the victories, the Golden Flyers remain undefeated and stand at 3-0 overall. D'Youville's match against Nazareth was its first of the season. D'Youville played Elms following its match against the Golden Flyers, which was Elms' opening match of the season.

Against the Spartans, junior Tim Zyburt tallied eight kills to lead the Golden Flyers' balanced attack. Classmate Chris Mahan recorded seven kills while juniors Bobby Beeman and Josh Hieb added six kills apiece. Freshman Jake Kemp and senior Nick McDonagh shared the primary setting duties, combining for 43 assists. Kemp and McDonagh had 23 assists and 20 assists, respectively.

Defensively, junior Cory Randolph had nine digs to thwart potential D'Youville kills. Mahan added three total blocks to further frustrate the Spartans' attack.

In its second match of the evening, the Golden Flyers continued their balanced attack. In addition to the kills from Levermore, Zyburt added six kills with zero errors. Junior Coulton Every and freshman Sam Bittker both recorded four kills. Similar to its first match, Kemp and McDonagh split the setting responsibilities to set up the Nazareth attack. Kemp finished the match with 17 assists while McDonagh had 11.

The Golden Flyers play a pair of matches on Saturday. Nazareth takes on Vassar at 11 a.m. before playing Wentworth at 1 p.m. Like Nazareth, Vassar also opened the invitational with a pair of victories.