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ROCHESTER, N.Y. -- Host Nazareth defeated Medaille in three sets (30-17, 30-20, 30-26) to win the North East Collegiate Volleyball Association's Western Division Tournament. Freshman
Billy Gimello led the Golden Flyers with a match-high 15 kills and senior
Joe Petzoldt added 12 kills.
With the victory, Nazareth, ranked fifth nationally in Division III, improves to 25-4 overall. By advancing to the championship match, the Golden Flyers gained an automatic bid into the 16-team overall NECVA Tournament April 3-4 at MIT. The winner of that tournament earns one of four berths to the Molten Division III Championship at Ramapo April 17-18. Medaille dropped to 15-14 overall after its loss to Nazareth, but the Mavericks also received an automatic bid to the overall NECVA Tournament by advancing to the championship match.
Junior
Kevin Kirchhoff gave Nazareth a 19-10 lead in the first set after he served three consecutive aces. Kirchhoff finished the match with five aces. Nazareth controlled the remainder of the first set as well as the second set with a hitting percentage of .519 in the first set and .440 in the second set.
The Golden Flyers trailed 13-7 in the third set before outscoring the Mavericks 9-2. Gimello's unassisted kill gave Nazareth the 16-15 lead, and the Golden Flyers never trailed the rest of the match.
Senior
Ryan Johnsen finished the match against Medaille with eight kills while sophomore
Hans Schroeder added six kills on eight attempts. Senior
Frank Leahy tallied a match-high 42 assists as Nazareth's primary setter, and senior
Chris DeHority recorded a match-high 11 digs. Johnsen and
Kelvin Rolle also recorded a solo block and three assisted blocks while Leahy and Schroeder finished with three assisted blocks each.
Ryan Murdie had 13 kills to lead Medialle and Ryan Maxwell recorded a team-high 21 assists. Murdie, Maxwell and Dan Jackson each tallied a team-high five digs.
In its semifinal match against Philadelphia Biblical, host Nazareth advanced to the championship match in three sets. The Golden Flyers defeated the Crimson Eagles by the scores of 30-25, 30-22, 30-23. Gimello recorded a team-high 15 kills to lead Nazareth. Ninth-ranked Philadelphia Biblical drops to 19-11 with the loss.
Rolle and Petzoldt contributed 11 kills and 10 kills respectively for the Golden Flyers. Nazareth used a balanced attack to defeat PBU as Johnsen also had nine kills and sophomore Schroeder finished with eight kills. Nazareth converted 23 kills in 34 attempts during the first set for a .588 hitting percentage and 16 kills in 35 attempts in the second set for a .457 hitting percentage. The Golden Flyers recorded only eight hitting errors during the match.
Leahy tallied a match-high 51 assists while DeHority recorded a match-high 16 digs.
The Crimson Eagles were led by Justin Brubaker who tallied a match-high 23 kills and a team-high 15 digs. Drew Dillion finished with 44 assists as Philadelphia Biblical's primary setter.