Altoona Box l MSJ Box l Updated Stats
ALTOONA, Pa. – Following a five set thrilling win over Penn St. Altoona (20-25, 25-15, 21-25, 25-22, 18-16), 13^th-ranked Nazareth slipped up against Mounts St. Joseph in four sets (25-19, 16-25, 18-25, 18-25).  The Lions are receiving votes in the AVCA poll.

With the split, the Golden Flyers are now 4-3 on the season.

Junior Zachary Gillard had 16 kills, including the match-clinching spike in the fifth set in Nazareth's first match.

Nazareth had leads of 14-13, 15-14, 16-15 and 17-16 in the fifth set before finally putting the match away. Nazareth had 14 of its 69 kills in the fifth set alone. Gillard's 16 kills came against eight errors for a .182 percentage.

Sam Bittker added 15 kills, including four in the fourth set and four more in the fifth. Sean Dillon had 12 kills with just one hitting error for a .647 percentage and Antonio Sargent had 10 kills.

Jake Kemp amassed 55 assists and Luis Vazquez had 18 digs.

Trailing two sets to one, Nazareth and Altoona were tied at 18-18 in the fourth set, before the Golden Flyers pulled away. Sargent had six of his kills in the set to help Nazareth prevail.

The Golden Flyers started off well in the second match, putting down 15 kills on 28 attempts with just four attack errors to win the opening set 25-19. 

The Lions picked it up in the next three sets with hitting percentages of .212, .407, and .500 to handle the Golden Flyers.

Gillard had 13 kills on a .265 attack percentage.  Bittker chipped in 10 kills, while Dillon notched nine kills.  Sargent and Ethan Ross put down seven kills of their own.

Kemp offered a versatile 15 digs and 36 assists.

Nazareth returns to action next Saturday, taking on Suny Poly and D'Youville at St. John Fisher.