ROCHESTER, NY - Men's volleyball tallied both a conference and a non-conference win on Saturday against SUNY New Paltz (3-2) and Houghton (3-0). 

The Golden Flyers are now 16-9 overall and 3-1 in the conference while New Paltz drops to 11-11 overall and 3-2 in the conference and Houghton drops to 0-17 overall.

Nazareth Over New Paltz in a Nail-Biter (23-25, 25-20, 25-23, 24-26, 15-20)
In the first game against New Paltz, the Golden Flyers squeezed out a win in five sets, swinging at an attack percentage of .235 and totaling 55 kills and eight aces on the game.

The first set set the tone for the rest of the match, as it was a battle all the way through, neither team leading by more than four points at a time. Late in the set, Nazareth was up 18-17, and the Hawks went on a four-point run to go up 21-18. After a few points were exchanged, New Paltz had set point at 24-21. Though Nazareth tried to battle back with two consecutive points, a service error ended the Golden Flyers' rally and New Paltz took the first set 24-23.

The start of the second set was also very tight. Up 8-7, the Golden Flyers strung together three consecutive points, two of which were aces from Andrew Bodensteiner, to go up by four at 11-7. Nazareth's lead hovered around that four point lead for the rest of the set as the two teams traded points, and the Golden Flyers took the set 25-20.

Nazareth got out to an early jump in the third set, stringing together multiple runs to go up 12-5 early on. New Paltz was able to bring the set within one point at 17-16, but the Hawks were not able to close the gap completely and Nazareth took the set 25-23.

In the fourth set, New Paltz was the team with the early lead, going up 13-10. However, the Golden Flyers were able to go on a 6-0 run to go up 16-13 and regain the lead for the first time since the seventh point of the set. The Hawks were quick to close the gap at 18, and the game was still tied at 24. Two Golden Flyer errors gave the Hawks the 26-24 set to take the game to a fifth set.

In the fifth set, the teams began by trading points and leads. Eventually the Hawks led at 7-5. The Golden Flyers then scored three points back-to-back as the teams switched sides to carry the momentum to the other side of the net, where Josh Weaver then had a service ace to make the run 4-0 and give Nazareth the 9-7 lead. Up 12-10, the Golden Flyers had three points in a row including kills from Owen Wickens and Ryan Murphy to win the final set 15-10.

Wickens led the team in kills and digs with 14 and 12 on top of his two aces and six assists, while Alex Bertino had 14 kills and three blocks. Andrew Bodensteiner led the team in blocks with four while also tacking on two aces. AJ Burda led the team in assists with 35 while also adding nine digs and two aces. Josh Weaver was on the board with eight kills and eight assists, while Ryan Murphy added three blocks and Max Stuver tallied five assists.


Nazareth Sweeps Houghton 3-0 (25-16, 25-17, 25-22)
Against Houghton, the Golden Flyers totaled 41 kills and eight aces while swinging at an attack percentage of .333.

The first set was a relatively comfortable set for the Golden Flyers, jumping out to an early lead that expanded to eight points late in the game at 17-9. The Golden Flyers continued to build on the lead until the final kill of the set by Anthony Caimano that gave the Golden Flyers the 25-16 set win.

The second set started with a 4-1 run from Nazareth that included two aces from Wickens and a kill from Joe Seliger. After trading points for a while, the Golden Flyers once again began to expand the lead, forcing a deficit too large for the Highlanders to come back from. Tristan Hendersen ended the set with a kill at a score of 25-17.

The third set again gave Nazareth an early four-point lead at 7-3, but the Highlanders quickly closed that gap with a four point run. A battle then ensued, the teams coming up with multiple ties and lead changes. At a tie score of 21, the Golden Flyers went on a 3-0 run to force set point, two of the points coming from Seliger kills. At 24-22, Joshua Warner put the game away for the Golden Flyers with a kill.

Seliger led the team in kills with eight, followed by Wickens and Jake O'Sullivan who each had six. Wicken, Seliger, and O'Sullivan were also the team leaders in aces with four, two, and one respectively. Stuver led the team in blocks and assists with three and 23 while also popping up five digs. Wickens and Gavin Sweet also tallied assists and digs, Wickens with 15 assists and a team-high six digs, and Sweet with one assist and four digs.

The Golden Flyers will be back in action on March 23rd as they host nationally ranked NYU at 1 p.m. in Kidera Gymnasium.