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ROCHESTER, N.Y. -- Host Nazareth rallied past third-ranked UC Santa Cruz by outlasting the Banana Slugs in five sets 22-25, 39-37, 25-22, 22-25, 17-15 in the Golden Flyers' fourth match of the Golden Flyer Invitational for men's volleyball. Sophomore EJ Wells-Spicer recorded a match-high 73 assists. Wells-Spicer and fellow sophomore Dan Mowery were named to the all-tournament team.

With Saturday's victories, the fourth-ranked Golden Flyers improve to 11-3 overall. Santa Cruz falls to 5-7 overall after finishing the weekend with a 3-1 record. Fifteenth-ranked New Paltz fell to 5-7 overall following their loss to Nazareth. Santa Cruz, Nazareth and 10th-ranked Rivier each finished the two-day tournament with 3-1 records, but the Banana Slugs won the team title with an 11-4 record in sets won. Nazareth finished second at 9-6, followed by Rivier at 9-7.

After falling to the Banana Slugs in the first set, Nazareth rallied to a 39-37 victory in a wild second set. With the score tied 37-37, junior Billy Gimello and senior Ellis Walsh tallied back-to-back kills to seal the Golden Flyers' victory and even the match. Gimello finished the set with six kills, as did sophomore Robert Kraft. Walsh recorded five kills in the set, followed by seniors Hans Schroeder and Brian Bunch with four kills apiece.

The Golden Flyers won the third set after a four-point scoring run to convert a 13-13 tie into a 17-13 lead. Nazareth had back-to-back blocks to start the run and capped the run with an assisted block by Kraft and senior Will Siwy after Kraft pounded a spike past the Slugs for the Golden Flyers' third point of the run.

Nazareth appeared to have the victory in the fourth set after claiming a 20-16 lead, but Santa Cruz stormed back with nine of the next 11 points to win the set 25-22.

In the final set, the Banana Slugs held a 14-11 lead with three match-point opportunities. After a service error cut Nazareth's deficit to two points, Bunch and Kraft had successive kills to tie the score 14-14. The Golden Flyers took the lead on the set's next point on an assisted block by Bunch and Kraft. The Slugs recorded a kill on the game's next point tie the set again, 15-15, but Schroeder and Gimello scored two consecutive points to complete Nazareth's rally. In the decisive final set, Bunch finished with four kills and two blocks.

The Golden Flyers' balanced attack was the key to their victory as five players finished with at least 11 kills. Bunch had a team-high 22 kills, followed by Gimello with 16, Schroeder with 14, Kraft with 13, and Walsh with 11. Siwy also added four kills in addition to his four total blocks. Gimello and Mowery recorded 15 digs and 13 digs, respectively. Wells-Spicer also had 12 digs to go along with his 73 assists, which breaks the previous Nazareth record of 69 assists that was held by former stand-out, and current assistant coach, Frank Leahy.

Shane Yablonka and Salvatore La Cavera each had 22 kills for the Banana Slugs. All-tournament team selection Jake Dietrich and invitational MVP Austin Einhorn added 17 kills and 12 kills, respectively. Mauro Salinas had a team-high 65 assists and 18 digs.

Nazareth opened the match against New Paltz with a team hitting percentage of .522 in the first set as the Golden Flyers tallied 16 kills and only four errors. After falling to .143 percent in the second set, Nazareth rebounded with .500 percent in the third set (12 kills and three errors). Nazareth fell behind early in the fourth set, but rallied to secure the victory.

Bunch finished with a team-high 14 kills while Gimello added seven kills and Kraft chipped in six kills. Wells-Spicer totaled a team-high 34 assists and eight digs against the Hawks. Sophomore Connor Ecklund also had six digs and three assists. Nazareth's defense frustrated New Paltz as the Golden Flyers recorded 11 total blocks.

Mike Van Tyne and Keith MacDonald had 11 kills apiece for the Hawks. Van Tyne also had a team-high eight digs while Andrew Cassius tallied 31 assists.

Nazareth is in action again Wednesday evening when they host Medaille at 7 p.m.