ROCHESTER, N.Y. -- Junior
Kaylee Kelly combined a match-best 11 kills with five service aces and nine digs Thursday for host Nazareth as the Golden Flyers made short work of Empire 8 Conference rival Elmira in women's volleyball. The Golden Flyers won by scores of 25-10, 25-22, 25-17 to improve to 10-7 overall and 4-1 in Empire 8 matches. The Soaring Eagles dropped to 7-12 overall and 3-2 in the E8.
Kelly's 11 kills came against just two hitting errors on 20 swings for an efficient .450 hitting percentage. Freshman
Zoe Tylipakis added nine kills and three aces and freshman
Tessa Grover had seven kills, 22 assists and two aces.
Kelly had five kills and four aces as Nazareth raced to a decisive win in the opening set. In the second set, Nazareth trailed 11-6 before rallying. The Golden Flyers scored eight of the next nine points -- including a six-point service run by Tylipakis -- to gain the lead at 14-12. The set was tied at 20-20 later on, but Nazareth closed out the Soaring Eagles thanks to a pair of kills from Tylipakis and one by
Eva Lyko.
Kelly added four more kills in the third set and Tylipakis had four more as Nazareth gradually pulled away. Grover added three more kills to provide Nazareth with an efficient .287 hitting percentage for the match.
Olivia Quick added four kills and
McKenzie Hart had 10 digs as the libero.
Nazareth plays two matches Saturday at RIT. They play the Tigers at 11 a.m. and Medaille at 1 p.m.