SVC box l MIT box | Cumulative stats
Tournament site
ROCHESTER, N.Y. -- Nazareth split its Saturday matches at the Golden Flyer Invitational to finish in fourth place. After defeating Southern Vermont in three sets (25-14, 25-12, 25-20) to begin the day, the Golden Flyers fell to ninth-ranked MIT in the third-place match. The Engineers defeated Nazareth in four sets (18-25, 25-23, 25-18, 25-22). Junior Alex Houghtalen recorded a team-high 10 kills against Southern Vermont. Junior Rob Kraft and freshman Brody Cord tallied 10 kills against MIT. Cord also had eight kills against Southern Vermont.

Nazareth, ranked first in the pre-season AVCA poll, finishes the opening weekend of its season with a 2-2 record.. Southern Vermont drops to 0-3 overall following the loss to Nazareth. After defeating the Golden Flyers, the Engineers are 4-1 overall. Third-ranked Carthage and fifth-ranked Juniata will play for the championship.

Nazareth finished with a hitting percentage of .391 in its first set against MIT to take a one-set lead. Trailing 5-4 in the set, the Golden Flyers strung together four consecutive points and maintained the lead throughout the remainder of the set. A service error started Nazareth's run, then senior Ellis Walsh recorded a kill. The Golden Flyers' defense forced the Engineers into back-to-back attack errors to end the run with an 8-5 lead. Nazareth scored five straight points toward the end of the match to stretch an 18-16 lead to 23-16 to seal the victory. Junior EJ Wells-Spicer ignited the run with a kill. Walsh and Cord also had kills during the run.

In the second set, MIT had two four-point runs to take control of the match. The second run provided the Engineers with a 14-9 advantage. The Golden Flyers tied the match at 22 apiece, but surrendered the following two points and eventually fell by two points. An ace by Wells-Spicer sandwiched between kills by Cord and Kraft cut Nazareth's deficit to one point. A hitting error by MIT temporarily tied the match before the Engineers prevailed.

Nazareth trailed the majority of the third set, but tied the game 14-14 after scoring four of five points. The Engineers responded with six unanswered points to claim a 20-14 lead. MIT had three kills and an ace during the decisive run.

The Golden Flyers attempted to rally in the fourth set with four straight points to pull within one point, 22-21. Kraft had an opportunity to tie the set at 22 points apiece but his spike was into the net. Senior Billy Gimello had a kill to start the run, followed by an ace by Wells-Spicer. The Golden Flyers' defense then forced the Engineers into consecutive hitting errors to get within one point.

In addition to the kills by Kraft and Cord, Gimello finished with nine kills and a team-high 11 digs. Wells-Spicer tallied 37 assists against the Engineers.

In the Golden Flyers' match against Southern Vermont, Nazareth controlled the first two sets by overwhelming the Mountaineers with hitting percentages of .476 in the first set and .321 in the second set. Meanwhile, Nazareth's defense forced Southern Vermont into just nine kills on nine errors through the first two-thirds of the match. The Mountaineers had hitting percentages of .125 and -.105 in the first two sets.

In addition to the 18 combined kills from Houghtalen and Cord, senior Dan Miranda and sophomore #Cole Hutter tallied six kills apiece. Freshman Nick McDonagh chipped in five kills for the Golden Flyers' attack. Wells-Spicer amassed a match-high 33 assists and recorded seven digs. Senior Sam Guba also recorded six digs. Miranda and Cord each tallied three total blocks to stifle many of the Mountaineers' attacks.

The Golden Flyers resume action with a United Volleyball Conference match at Medaille on January 31st.