Montclair box l Lycoming box | Updated stats | Tournament site
ROCHESTER, N.Y. -- Nazareth split Saturday's matches on the second day of the New York State Regional Challenge. The Golden Flyers fell to Montclair State in three sets by the scores of 26-24, 25-22, 25-18 before fighting off Lycoming in three sets by the scores of 25-15, 28-26, 25-21. Sophomore Savannah Bothner surpassed 1,000 career digs during Saturday's action. She tallied 33 digs between the Golden Flyers' two matches and now stands at 1,008 career digs. Classmate Jessica Barry was named to the NYS Regional Challenge All-Tournament team.

Following the matches, Nazareth stands at 21-11 overall. Montclair improved to 18-8 overall after defeating the Golden Flyers, and Lycoming dropped to 14-20 overall after its loss.

In the opening set against Montclair, the Golden Flyers surged to an 8-3 lead. Kills by senior Kelsey Milligan, junior Melissa Newcomb, and Barry fueled the scoring run, while Milligan and senior Madison Joseph also had service aces. The Red Hawks stormed back with a 15-7 scoring run to claim an 18-15 lead. The Golden Flyers answered with a 5-0 scoring run and held a 24-22 edge before Montclair State closed the match with a 4-0 scoring run. The Red Hawks used consecutive assisted blocks by Natalia Majkut and Siyara Herbert for their final two points.

Montclair State controlled most of the action in the second set. After the score was tied at five points apiece, the Red Hawks took advantage of a pair of service aces that caught the top of the net and fell to Nazareth side. The aces were the start of a 9-3 scoring run that gave Montclair a 14-6 advantage. The Golden Flyers rallied to within two points, 21-19 following a kill by Joseph, but they were unable to close their deficit further.

Similar to the first set, Nazareth had an early lead as it took a 10-6 lead following an ace by junior Danielle Synowski. The Red Hawks answered with an 11-1 scoring run to take control of the set, 17-11. The Golden Flyers put together small scoring runs to close to 19-16, but Montclair closed out the match with a 6-2 run.

In addition to Joseph's team-high 10 kills, Milligan and classmate Carmen Sapp each had seven kills, and Newcomb and junior Delaney Martin had six kills and five kills, respectively. Barry finished with 34 assists as Nazareth's primary setter.

Defensively, Bothner amassed a match-high 16 digs. Milligan recorded three assisted blocks and Martin had two.

In its match against Lycoming, Nazareth controlled the opening set with a .393 hitting percentage while holding the Warriors to a hitting percentage of -.094. Sapp, Martin, senior Margorie Didas, and Joseph combined for 11 kills and only one hitting error during the set.

In the second set, the Golden Flyers trailed 22-18 before scoring five of the next six points to knot the score at 23 points apiece. Martin ignited the rally with a kill. After a pair of Warriors' hitting errors, Joseph added a kill, then Barry and Milligan combined for an assisted block. Nazareth fought off multiple Lycoming set points before Martin's kill eventually gave the Golden Flyers the set. Martin and Joseph were Nazareth's primary offensive weapons in the set as each player had five kills.

The Golden Flyers trailed for most of the third set before rallying to take the set and the match. Lycoming surged to an 11-5 lead and still held a six-point lead at 16-10. Nazareth chipped away at the deficit with an ace from Barry that was sandwiched around kills from Bothner and Milligan. Synowski and Martin had kills a few points later to tie the match 20-20. Moments later, the Golden Flyers took their first lead of the set since their 3-1 advantage after the Warriors were whistled for a ball-handling error. Nazareth sealed the match with kills from Newcomb and Martin.

The Golden Flyers travel to Stevens on November 2nd for the Empire 8 Tournament, hosted by Stevens. As the second-seed, Nazareth will play St. John Fisher in the semifinals. Top-seeded Stevens plays fourth-seeded Alfred in the other semifinal.