Stevens Box l New Paltz Box l Updated Stats

ROCHESTER, NY- No. 4 Nazareth opened up United Volleyball Conference (UVC) play Sunday facing two ranked opponents,  earning a 25-10, 29-27, 19-25, 25-17 win over No. 6 Stevens Institute of Technology before falling 25-17, 25-21, 27-25 to No. 2 New Paltz in the night cap at Kidera Gymnasium.

Nazareth moves to 12-2 overall and 1-2 in UVC play.  Stevens falls to 8-3 and 1-2, while New Paltz improves to 10-2 and 2-0, respectively.

After cruising to a first set win, Nazareth and Stevens had a closely contested second set where the Golden Flyers came out on top. Zachary Gillard and Chris Mahan combined for a block to secure the final point of the set.

In the fourth set, Nazareth hit .579 with 14 kills on 19 attempts and just three errors. Grant Levermore finished with six kills on seven attempts, while Tim Zyburt notched five kills on six attempts.

Jake Kemp dished out 43 assists to go along with nine digs. Zyburt (.370) and Levermore (.269) each recorded 13 kills. Levermore had seven digs, while Zyburt notched six.

Mahan was an efficient 11-of-15 (.600) with one block.

In the second match, New Paltz came out firing in the first set and led wire-to-wire hitting.481 (16-3-27).

Nazareth had its best hitting percentage in the second (.393), racking up 14 kills on 28 attempts with three errors although it came up on the short end. 

Trailing 21-15 in the third and final set, Nazareth showed some grit coming all the way back to tie the game 21-21.  Zyburt gave Nazareth a lead at 23-22 with a block, but Nazareth was unable to take the set.

Nazareth has now lost the last five meetings with the Hawks.

Levermore led the way with 13 kills on 20 attempts (.550).  Zyburt contributed nine kills of his own and three blocks.

Kemp tallied 29 assists.

Nazareth returns to action on Friday against Juniata in Huntington, PA.