Hilbert box | UC Santa box | Updated stats | Tournament site
ROCHESTER, N.Y. -- Eighth-ranked Nazareth won a pair of three-set men's volleyball Friday during the opening day of the Golden Flyer Invitational at the Kidera Gymnasium. The Golden Flyers knocked off seventh-ranked UC Santa Cruz in the second match by scores of 25-18, 26-24, 25-23 as junior Tim Zyburt banged out 13 kills and freshman Jake Kemp amassed 32 assists. Nazareth also defeated Hilbert in the opening match of the tournament by scores of  25-17, 20-15, 25-16.

At 10-0 overall, the Golden Flyers play two more matches Saturday -- vs. Ramapo at 12 p.m. and vs. Medaille at 4 p.m.

The Golden Flyers were solid against the Banana Slugs in posting a .435 hitting percentage (40-10-69), led by Zyburt, who also hit .435 individually with 13 kills against three hitting errors in 23 attempts. Junior Grant Levermore added nine kills on 13 swings for a .538 percentage and senior Luke Lawatsch had seven kills with just one error in 13 attempts for a .462 percentage.

Zyburt had six of his kills in the first set in seven attempts as Nazareth won comfortably. He had five more kills in the second set with freshman Sam Bittker also contributing four. The set was close throughout and was tied at 24 before the Golden Flyers scored the final two points on kills by Levermore and Kemp.

The third set was close as well and was tied at 22-22 before Nazareth went up by two on a kill by Lawatsch and an attacking error by the Banana Slugs. After a Nazareth attacking error, the Golden Flyers clinched the set and match on a kill by Levermore.

Zyburt added eight digs in addition to his 13 kills and Bittker finished with six kills and a pair of service aces. Jake Lendel led UC Santa Cruz with 10 kills. Evan Kittle had 31 assists.

Against Hilbert, Brody Cord, Josh Hieb and Kane Wittorff recorded five kills each and senior setter Nick McDonagh totaled 24 assists. Kemp played the third set and had 12 assists. Nazareth hit .241 as a team, including .357 in the third set, and forced Hilbert into 19 hitting errors. Hieb and junior Cory Randolph each had six digs and Zyburt added five more.