J & W Box l Lasell Box l Updated stats | Tournament Site
ROCHESTER, N.Y. -- Host Nazareth won both of its matches on the second day of the Golden Flyer Invitational with a pair of three-set victories. Nazareth defeated Johnson & Wales the scores of 25-17, 25-23, 29-27 before knocking off Lasell by the scores of 25-22, 25-10, 25-20. Senior Sam Bittker and junior Zachary Gillard earned all-tournament team honors for the Golden Flyers.

With the victories, Nazareth improves to 10-6 overall. Following their respective losses, Johnson & Wales dropped to 3-9 overall and Lasell fell to 1-9 overall.

In its match against Johnson & Wales, the Golden Flyers controlled the opening set by compiling a .400 hitting percentage on 15 kills and three errors on 30 attempts. Senior Kane Wittorff tallied four of his kills in the first set, and Gillard and freshman Garrett Rodi had three kills apiece. The Golden Flyers, meanwhile, held the Wildcats to a hitting percentage of .080 in the first set. Johnson & Wales was held to nine kills and forced into seven errors.

In the second and third sets, Nazareth rallied from late deficits. The Golden Flyers trailed 23-20 in the second set before scoring the final five points of the set. Wittorff ignited the run with a kill, which was followed by a kill by Gillard. Sophomore Luis Vazquez tied the the set at 23 points apiece with a service ace after his serve hit the top of the net and dropped to the Wildcats' side of the floor. After an error by Johnson & Wales, freshman Antonio Sargent closed the set with a kill.

In the third set, the Golden Flyers trailed 23-21 before outlasting the Wildcats 29-27. A kill and solo block by Bittker enabled Nazareth to tie the contest 23-23. After a kill by Rodi, the Golden Flyers won the match on a hitting error by Johnson & Wales.

In addition to the match-high 11 kills by Wittorff, Gillard had eight kills, Rodi tallied six kills, and Bittker and sophomore Joe Crosby each added five kills. Sophomore Sean Dillon chipped in three additional kills on his three attempts. Senior Jake Kemp amassed a match-high 36 assists to direct the Golden Flyers' attack.

Defensively, junior Jacob Gleason had a team-high nine digs while junior Trevor Gooch and Kemp each had five kills. Rodi was Nazareth's force at the net with a solo block and three assisted blocks.

The Golden Flyers led throughout most of their three-set match against Lasell. The Lasers rallied to take a small advantage in the first set before Nazareth pulled away for the three-point victory. The Golden Flyers finished with a first-set advantage in hitting percentage (.250 to .087) with 16 kills and eight errors on 32 attempts. Lasell had seven kills and five errors on 23 attempts. In the second set, Nazareth's hitting percentage dropped to .143, but the Golden Flyers forced the Lasers into 10 hitting errors to hold them to a -.167 hitting percentage. With 18 kills and only five errors in the third set, Nazareth pulled away to seal the match.

Junior Trevor Gooch tallied a match-high 10 kills, and Bittker contributed nine kills. Sargent finished with seven kills while sophomore Sean Dillon and junior Ethan Ross added six kills apiece. Junior Tyler Farnung had a match-high 37 assists as the Golden Flyers' primary setter. Farnung also had a match-high three aces.

Nazareth frustrated the Lasers throughout the match on the defensive side of the net. Sargent and Ross each had two solo blocks and one assisted block. Additionally, Bittker and Dillon tallied three assisted blocks apiece. Vazquez, Farnung, and Bittker recorded 13 digs, 10 digs, and nine digs, respectively.

Nazareth is in action again on February 28th at 7 p.m. when the Golden Flyers host St. John Fisher in a UVC match.