Box Score 1 | Box Score 2 Emmanuel box l MIT box l Updated stats l Tournament site
ROCHESTER, N.Y. -- Host Nazareth opened day two of the Golden Flyer Invitational with a three-set victory over Emmanuel by the scores of 25-23, 25-8, 25-23 then defeated MIT in five sets by the scores of 28-30, 25-19, 25-22, 21-25, 15-8. Nazareth wins the Golden Flyer Invitational on a set tie-breaker as Nazareth lost fewer matches than Elmira, who also finished the weekend with a 4-0 record. The Soaring Eagles lost six sets while the Golden Flyers lost two sets. The two sets Nazareth dropped to MIT were the first sets that Nazareth has lost this season.

Senior EJ Wells-Spicer earned tournament MVP honors while sophomore Luke Lawatsch and freshman Grant Levermore were also named to the all-tournament team.

With the victories, the fifth-ranked Golden Flyers remain undefeated with a 5-0 record. Fifteenth-ranked Emmanuel falls to 1-2 overall following the loss, and 13th-ranked MIT drops to 5-5 overall after the weekend's matches..

Nazareth's defense stymied the offensive attack of the Saints throughout the match. Emmanuel recorded hitting percentages of only .037, -.368, and .115. The Golden Flyers allowed only 22 total kills and forced the Saints into committing 25 attack errors. Junior Cole Hutter amassed a match-high seven total blocks while freshman Josh Hieb and senior EJ Wells-Spicer each added four total blocks. Senior Robert Kraft chipped in three total blocks. Wells-Spicer also tallied a match-high nine digs.

Freshman Tim Zyburt tallied a match-high nine kills for the Golden Flyers. In addition to the kills from Zyburt, Kraft and Hutter finished with six kills and five kills, respectively. The Golden Flyers finished with hitting percentages of .227, .467, and .258 through the three sets. Wells-Spicer finished with a match-high 25 assistes while classmate Connor Ecklund had six assists to direct the Nazareth attack.

Against MIT, the Golden Flyers received a match-high 19 kills from Lawatsch while Levermore added 14 kills. Wells-Spicer finished the match with a match-high 52 assists. Levermore and senior Dan Mowery each tallied 11 digs to lead Nazareth defensively. Lawatsch amassed eight assisted blocks while Kraft had three solo blocks and three assisted blocks.

The Golden Flyers allowed the Engineers to stay in the match with 25 service errors. Nazareth had hitting percentages of .367, .429,. 393, -.071, and .438 during the five sets.

The Golden Flyers are in action again next weekend at the UVC crossover at Medaille.