ROCHESTER, N.Y. -- Visiting St. John Fisher rallied from a one-set deficit Wednesday in men's volleyball as the Cardinals defeated the Golden Flyers in a four-set non-conference match at the Kidera Gymnasium. Scores were 17-25, 26-24, 25-18, 25-16.
Nazareth, ranked 13th nationally in the latest Division III poll, dropped to 14-3 overall. Fisher, ranked 14th, is 11-3. The teams play again in a United Volleyball Conference match March 30 at Fisher.
Owen Wickens led Nazareth with 17 kills and nine digs.
Antonio Sargent added seven kills and
Trent Caviness had 22 assists.
Four of Wickens' kills came in the opening set as Nazareth broke away from a 13-13 tie with a 12-4 scoring run. The Golden Flyers were in control in the second set as well as they led 20-16 following back-to-back combined blocks from Sargent and
Max Stuver. Fisher rallied to tie the score at 22-22 and again at 23-23, but Nazareth went up 24-23 on Wickens' sixth kill of the set. The Cardinals then scored the last three points to take the set and all the momentum.
The in the pivotal third set, the score was tied at 12-12 before Fisher pulled away with a 13-6 scoring run to end the set. Likewise the fourth set was tied at 9-9 thanks to three service errors and seven attacking errors by the Golden Flyers.
Fisher's final hitting line included 43 kills with 17 hitting errors on 116 attempts for a .224 percentage. Nazareth hit .093 (38-27-118) overall. Caviness added 11 digs and
Josh Weaver had five kills and three blocks.
Nazareth is back in action Friday with the opening match of its United Volleyball Conference schedule against 10th-ranked New York University at 6 p.m. Nazareth also visits Bard Saturday at 10 a.m.
