ELMIRA, N.Y. -- Sophomore
Kaylee Kelly had six of her match-best 24 kills in the fifth and deciding set for visiting Nazareth Thursday as the Golden Flyers held off Elmira in a five-set women's volleyball match. The Golden Flyers prevailed by scores of 22-25, 25-21, 26-28, 25-16, 15-9.
The match, at Elmira's Speidel Gymnsium, came in the semifinals of the Empire 8 Conference Tournament and boosted Nazareth's overall record to 6-2. The Golden Flyers will compete Sunday at 2 p.m. for the E8 title at top-seeded St. John Fisher (8-0). The Cardinals defeated Alfred in four sets in the other semifinal match Thursday. Elmira finished the season at 6-4 overall.
Nazareth pounded out 73 kills over the five sets with Kelly (24),
McKenzie Hart (22) and
Julia Cavanaugh (13) all producing career-best totals. Freshman setter
Kelly Taylor posted a career-high 60 assists and sophomore libero
Kelsey Ludwig had a career-high 33 digs.
After falling behind two-sets-to-one, Nazareth took set four in convincing fashion and then never trailed in set five. Kelly delivered kills on three of Nazareth's first four points in the set. Cavanaugh produced a block and two kills later in the set to extend Nazareth's lead. Then a kill by Hart made it 10-4. Kelly was able to close out the set and the match will kills on points 12, 14 and 15.
Elmira rallied to take the first set by scoring the last five points, including two on Nazareth hitting errors. Nazareth recovered to take the second set with Cavanaugh delivering the set-clinching kill.
In the third set, the lead changed hands 10 times with Elmira benefiting from eight Nazareth hitting errors and five service errors. The Golden Flyers cleaned up the errors for sets four and five with just one service error in set four and none in set five.
In addition to her 22 kills, Hart had 25 digs. Kelly had three service aces and
Olivia Quick had seven kills and four blocks. Lydia Milligan had 12 kills for Elmira.
Thursday's victory avenged a regular-season defeat as Elmira won a four-set match against the Golden Flyers on March 15. Sunday's match for the E8 title will be a rematch of an April 2 match in which Fisher prevailed over the Golden Flyers in five sets.
