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HYANNIS, Mass. -- Nazareth's improbable run through the North East Collegiate Volleyball Association Tournament continued Saturday as the Golden Flyers scored two more upset victories to advance to Sunday's title match at 1 p.m. The Golden Flyers, seeded 15th in the 16-team event, knocked off seventh-seeded Ramapo and sixth-seeded MIT in four and three sets respectively to reach the title match for the second year in a row.
 
After knocking off second-seeded Baruch in a grueling five-set first-round match Friday, Nazareth upended Ramapo by scores of 27-30, 30-25, 30-28, 32-30 and then eliminated MIT by scores of 30-28, 30-27, 31-29.

Nazareth, now 18-14 overall, will play Sunday at 1 p.m. against fourth-seeded Philadelphia Biblical with the winner advancing to Molten Division III Championship April 16-17 at Carthage. Philadelphia Biblical knocked off top-seeded Rivier in five sets in the other semifinal match. 

"I guess we like the idea of being an underdog," said Nazareth Coach Cal Wickens. "This is probably the healthiest we've been all season and everyone is contributing."

Junior outside hitter Hans Schroeder spearheaded the Golden Flyers' offense with a match-best 23 kills against Ramapo and 15 more against MIT. Freshman setter EJ Wells-Spicer had 64 assists against Ramapo and 44 versus MIT.

Nazareth trailed in the third set against MIT before staging a late rally. The score was tied at 29-29, then Nazareth went ahead on an MIT service error. Wells-Spicer and junior Will Siwy then blocked an MIT attack attempt for the match-clinching point.

Sophomore Billy Gimello, out most of the season with an assortment of injuries, added 12 kills against just two hitting errors in 19 attempts for a .526 hitting percentage. Freshman Robert Kraft also excelled with 10 kills in 15 attempts for a .667 percentage. Nazareth hit .386 against MIT overall.

After losing the first set against Ramapo, Nazareth persevered. In the fourth and final set, Nazareth had a seemingly safe 27-20 lead following a kill by Gimello. Ramapo came back to tie the score at 29. Schroeder had a kill for Nazareth's 30th point and the Golden Flyers got their final two points on a ball-handling error and an attack error by Ramapo.

Siwy produced 15 kills, Gimello had 12 and Ellis Walsh had 10. Gimello also had nine digs while freshman Dan Mowery had 11.