Alfred box | Utica Box l Updated stats l Utica vs Alfred box
ROCHESTER, N.Y. -- The Nazareth volleyball squad locked up the No. 2 seed for the Empire 8 Championships Saturday after downing both Alfred and Utica at Kidera Gymnasium.  Nazareth rallied to defeat Alfred 23-25, 25-21, 25-22, 25-19 before a three set triumph over Utica, 25-21, 25-13, 27-25.

Stevens (8-0 E8) has secured the No. 1 seed and will host the four-team tournament on Nov. 3-4.  The Golden Flyers (7-1 E8) are the No. 2 seed and are set to take on No. 3 St. John Fisher (6-2 E8) in the semifinals.  Alfred (4-4 E8) and Hartwick (4-4 E8) each finished with identical conference records, however, the Saxons earn the bid based on a head-to-head win over Hartwick. 

Juniors Kelsey Milligan and Madison Joseph each had nine kills in the opening match against the Saxons.

After dropping a close first set to the Saxons, Nazareth was able to win close sets two and three and Joseph added four more kills in the fourth set as Nazareth pulled away for the win. Alfred closed to within 20-19 late in the fourth set, before Nazareth reeled off the last five points.

Newcomb finished with eight kills, Sapp had seven and sophomore Delaney Martin added six. Freshman setter Jessica Barry had 36 assists. Freshman libero Savannah Bothner added 12 digs and four aces. Nazareth also blocked well with 13 team blocks, including five for Milligan and four for Newcomb.

Nazareth handled Utica relataively easily the first two sets, only to have the Pioneers jump out to a 19-12 lead in the third set.  The Golden Flyers stormed back though to even the score at 20 apiece, scoring seven straight points.  Carmen Sapp, Martin and Danielle Synowski each had two kills during the run.  Nazareth avoided set point at 24-23 and eventually took the match on a kill from Celia Cordero.

The Golden Flyers hit .303 in the match with 49 kills on 119 attempts, to go along with 13 errors.

Milligan hit .423 with 12 kills, while Sapp had 11 kills (.238).  Joseph chipped in eight kills and five digs.

Barry contributed 40 assists, and Bothner notched 23 digs. 

Nazareth returns to action Tuesday, hosting Rochester at 7 p.m.