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ROCHESTER, N.Y. -- Nazareth defeated visiting Ithaca in three sets in a women's Empire 8 Conference volleyball match on Friday evening. The match was also the first match of the Purple & Gold Invitational, which the Golden Flyers are hosting. Nazareth defeated the Bombers by the scores of 25-14, 25-12, 25-13. Junior Maria Allocco finished with a match-high hitting percentage of .615 as she converted nine kills and had only one attack error in 13 attempts.

With the victory, Nazareth improves to 3-1 in conference matches and 15-4 overall. Following the loss, Ithaca drops to 1-2 in Empire 8 matches and 8-13 overall.

In the opening set, the Golden Flyers held an 11-7 lead early in the contest before the Bombers trimmed their deficit to one point, 11-10. Following a kill from sophomore Jennifer Hicks, two hitting errors by Ithaca, and a service ace by freshman Madi Wickens, Nazareth reclaimed control of the match. The Golden Flyers stretched their lead throughout the remainder of the set. Allocco's set-clinching kill also gave Nazareth its biggest advantage of the set at 25-14.

The Golden Flyers opened the second set with 13 of the first 16 points to take a commanding lead. During the dominant scoring run, junior Olivia Harrigan had four kills and junior Chelsea Beecher tallied three kills. Allocco also added a kill while freshman Maureen Thayer had a service ace. Nazareth's lead swelled to 14 points, 22-8, following another service ace by Thayer.

Similar to the second set, Nazareth opened the third set with an overwhelming lead. Following consecutive kills by Harrigan and Allocco, the Golden Flyers extended their lead to 12-3. Ithaca also recorded four attack errors to allow Nazareth to build its lead. After taking control early in the set, the closest the Golden Flyers allowed the Bombers to crawl was within eight points. Allocco's third ace of the evening gave Nazareth the victory.

Harrigan finished with a match-high 11 kills, and classmate Kassandra Buseck added seven kills on 15 attempts with no errors. Beecher and Hicks finished with five kills and three kills, respectively. Wickens directed the efficient offensive attack and amassed a match-high 27 assists. She also finished with four aces. Nazareth recorded an 11-2 advantage in service aces.

Defensively, the Golden Flyers forced the Bombers into 20 hitting errors and only allowed 18 kills. Thayer led all players with nine digs while Harrigan had eight digs and Wickens had six.

Shaelynn Schmidt tallied a team-high eight kills for Ithaca. Molly Brown recorded 13 assists and six digs to lead the Bombers in both categories.

The Golden Flyers resume action in the Purple & Gold Invitational with a pair of non-conference matches on Saturday. Nazareth plays Plattsburgh at 11 a.m. then Buffalo State at 3 p.m.