MORRISVILLE, NY – A strong defensive effort and another triple-double for junior Tessa Grover led the Nazareth University Women's Volleyball team to wins over Morrisville and Plattsburgh Saturday in a tri-meet at Morrisville.
Nazareth (3-9) dropped the first set against Morrisville 20-25 but rallied for three straight wins 25-21, 25-19 and 26-24 to take the 3-1 decision over the Mustangs. Later against Plattsburgh, the Golden Flyers won the opening set 25-19 but the Cardinals tied the score winning the second set 25-22. Nazareth bounced back and took the next two sets by identical scores of 25-22 for the 3-1 win.
In the final set against Plattsburgh, Nazareth used a pair of kills and an ace to take a late lead before junior Ryleigh Bidwell and sophomore Zipporah Sparkman combined for a block for the 25th point to seal the victory.
Grover had 15 kills, 12 digs and 10 assists in the opener for her fourth triple-double of the season and followed up with 16 kills and 19 assists against Plattsburgh.
Junior Ella Kules had 37 assists on the day including 19 against Morrisville while sophomore Jenna Mattison had 18 digs in the opener and a career-high 23 digs in the second match. Fellow sophomore Leah Fusilli had dig totals of 17 and 13 and sophomore Riley Loomis had eight kills in each match. Junior Ruth Jackson had 10 kills against Plattsburgh.
Nazareth returns to Empire 8 play Friday at Elmira and will host Alfred Saturday in Kidera Gymnasium.
