New Paltz Box | Tournament site
UC Santa Cruz box
ROCHESTER, N.Y. -- Visiting UC Santa Cruz held off Nazareth in a thrilling men's volleyball match Friday  in the first day of the Nazareth Invitational. The second-ranked Banana Slugs outscored the eighth-ranked Golden Flyers 15-10 in the fifth and deciding set to win the match 3-2. Scores were 27-30, 30-28, 30-24, 29-31, 15-10.

For the Banana Slugs, five players reached double digits in kills, led by Brad Sullivan with 18. Setter Eric Rowell amassed 69 assists while Max McDaniel and Justin Lam each had 16 kills. Alex Schwartz had 15 kills and Matt Smiley added 11. UC Santa Cruz improved to 7-2 overall, while Nazareth dropped to 8-3.

Nazareth kept the match close thanks to 16 kills from junior Brian Bunch, who had just two hitting errors in 29 attempts. He also had seven blocks. Senior Joe Petzoldt contributed 12 kills and eight digs and senior setter Frank Leahy had 46 assists.

Both teams return to action Saturdaywith Nazareth playing Eastern Mennonite at 10 a.m. and Carthage at 2 p.m. UC Santa Cruz plays Carthage at 12 p.m. and Vassar at 4 p.m.

In Nazareth's first match Friday, freshman Billy Gimello had 15 kills and Bunch had 10 as Nazareth defeated New Paltz in four sets  by scores of 30-28, 30-18, 25-30, 30-28.

The lead seesawed back and forth in the fourth set with Nazareth finally prevailing on kills by Ryan Johnsen and Gimello to break a 28-28 tie.

Junior Kevin Kirchhoff had 38 assists and senior Frank Leahy had 18 -- all in the final set. Johnsen also finished with nine kills in 13 attempts and senior Chris DeHority had a match-high 11 digs.