Box l Updated Stats

Rochester, NY – Nazareth won the opening two sets before falling in the next three, as Elmira stormed back for a 25-22, 25-15, 22-25, 25-27, 17-19 victory Sunday afternoon in a pivotal UVC matchup on the campus of St. John Fisher College.

Nazareth now sits at 4-3 in conference play with two games remaining. The Golden Flyers host NYU (3-4 UVC) at 8 p.m. Friday and Stevens Institute (6-1) at 12 p.m. Saturday.  Nazareth is now 17-10 overall on the season, while Elmira moves to 19-7 overall and 5-2 in conference play.

Leading 24-22 in the fourth set with a chance to close out the match, Nazareth served the ball into the net, which eventually led to the Soaring Eagles coming back to tie the match at two games apiece.

Elmira appeared to be on its way to winning the match with a 14-9 lead in the fifth, however, Nazareth rattled off five straight points to even the score.  Zachary Gillard, who had a match-high 21 kills on a .457 attack percentage, had three kills on the run. Nazareth would never lead after tying the game at 14 and Elmira completed the comeback with a 19-17 fifth set win. Gillard also finished with six blocks.

Sam Bittker was also in double-digit kills for Nazareth with 10, to go along nine digs and four blocks.  He also had two service aces.

Sean Dillon hit .333 with eight kills and had eight blocks.

Jake Kemp had 52 assists and eight digs in the losing effort.