Men's Volleyball | 1/20/2018 1:31:00 PM

Box Score 1 | Box Score 2 Rivier box | EMU box | Cumulative stats
UTICA, N.Y.-- Nazareth defeated Rivier in three sets and Eastern Mennonite in four sets on the second day of the SUNY Poly Invitational. The Golden Flyers swept the Raiders by the scores of 25-21, 25-22, and 25-20 before knocking off the Royals by the scores of 27-25, 25-17, 24-26, 25-21. Against Rivier, freshman Antonio Sargent had a team-high nine kills, while senior Kane Wittorff had 12 kills and a .733 hitting percentage against Eastern Mennonite.

With the victories, the Golden Flyers improve to 3-1 overall. After falling to Nazareth, the Raiders dropped to 1-2 overall, and the Royals fell to 3-2 overall.

In the match against Rivier, junior Zachary Gillard tallied eight kills, and senior Sam Bittker and sophomore Joe Crosby finished with six kills apiece. Wittorff and junior Trevor Gooch combined for another seven kills. Senior Jake Kemp amassed 33 assists as Nazareth's primary setter. The Golden Flyers finished with attack percentages of .285 in set one (10 kills, 9 errors), .500 in set two (13 kills, 2 errors), and .214 in set three (12 kills, 6 errors).

Kemp also anchored Nazareth on the defensive side of the net with eight digs. Bittker and sophomore Luis Vazquez each recorded five digs. Wittorff was the Golden Flyers' primary defensive weapon at the net with one solo block and three assisted blocks.

In Nazareth's match against Eastern Mennonite, Wittorff was one of three Golden Flyers to finish with double-digit kills. In addition to Wittorff's 12 kills, Crosby and Bittker had 11 kills and 10 kills, respectively. Sargent recorded nine kills, and the trio of Gillard, Gooch, and Kemp combined for 13 kills. Kemp continued to direct Nazareth's offense and finished with a match-high 43 assists. The Golden Flyers had a decisive 8-3 advantage in service aces; Gillard, Wittorff, and junior Tyler Farnung each had a pair of aces. Nazareth had an attack percentage of .258 in the first set (14 kills, 6 errors), .414 in the second set (15 kills, 3 errors), .290 in the third set (15 kills, 6 errors), and .091 in the fourth set (11 kills, 8 errors).

Defensively, the Golden Flyers held the Royals to hitting percentages of .231 (13 kills, 7 errors), .130 (9 kills, 6 errors), .200 (13 kills, 7 errors), and .000 (8 kills, 8 errors) through the four sets. Bittker finished with a team-high eight digs, while Gooch had six kills, and Kemp and Vazquez each had five digs. At the net, Crosby and Gillard had three blocks apiece, and Bittker and Wittorff each had a pair of blocks.

The Golden Flyers are in action again on January 26th when Nazareth travels to Pennsylvania to play sixth-ranked Juniata at 5:30 p.m.