POUGHKEEPSIE, NY – The sixth-seeded Nazareth men's volleyball team saw its UVC Championship come to a close on Saturday, falling in the semifinals to second-seeded NYU in three sets, 25-16, 25-19, 25-23.
Nazareth, ranked 17
th nationally, falls to 20-10 overall, while 9
th-ranked NYU moves to 16-7 overall. NYU will meet top-ranked Vassar in Sunday's championship.
In the opening set, NYU broke a 13-11 lead into a 21-13 advantage that the Golden Flyers were unable to overcome. The first set was the best hitting set for the Golden Flyers at .226 with 10 kills on 21 attempts with three errors.
Nazareth clawed back from being down 9-3 in the second set to draw within 16-15 following a
Josh Weaver kill. He finished with six in the match and added three digs.
The Violets however rattled of five points to put distance between them and the Golden Flyers.
Nazareth jumped out to a lead in the third and had a 15-14 advantage before NYU scored four-straight to lead 18-14. An attack error by NYU made it 20-20 but the Violets were able to close down the stretch.
Owen Wickens finished with eight kills, eight digs.
Andrew Bodensteiner also had eight kills with two blocks.
Max Stuver contributed four kills, seven assists, and five digs.
AJ Burda led the way with 19 assists.
