Virginia Wesleyan box l La Verne box l Updated stats | Tournament site
LA VERNE, CA -- Nazareth's women's volleyball team split its matches Saturday at the Leopard Invitational, hosted by La Verne University. The Golden Flyers won their 10th consecutive match when Nazareth swept Virginia Wesleyan by the scores of 25-14, 25-14, 25-20, but Nazareth's winning streak was stopped hours later when the Golden Flyers fell to La Verne in three sets. The scores were 25-23, 25-14, 25-19. Seniors Maria Allocco and Kassandra Buseck were named to the all-tournament team.

Following the weekend, Nazareth stands at 18-6 overall. Virginia Wesleyan fell to 17-7 overall following the loss, and La Verne improved to 14-3 overall.

Against Virginia Wesleyan, Nazareth used a balanced scoring attack to overwhelm the Marlins as seven players finished with kills. Buseck had a match-high nine kills and three errors while classmate Olivia Harrigan tallied eight kills and only one hitting error. The Golden Flyers took control of the match early by pounding 11 kills and only two errors on 29 attempts for a .310 hitting percentage and allowing Virginia Wesleyan only six kills while forcing the Marlins into eight errors on 34 attempts for a -.059 attack percentage. Harrigan and Buseck each had three kills and no errors in the set to lead Nazareth.

In the second set, the Golden Flyers continued to force the Marlins into hitting errors. Virginia Wesleyan tallied only three kills and committed seven errors for a -.182 hitting percentage. Nazareth, meanwhile, tallied 10 kills and only three hitting errors on 18 attempts for a .389 hitting percentage. Buseck, Allocco, and Harrigan combined for all 10 of the Golden Flyers' kills and committed only two hitting errors.

In the third set, five different Nazareth players recorded kills. Junior Jennifer Hicks had a team-leading three kills while sophomore Cady Messmer, Harrigan, Buseck, and Allocco each had two kills. The Golden Flyers finished with a .211 attack percentage with their 11 kills and three errors on 38 attempts. The Marlins finished the set with eight kills and eight errors on 39 attempts.

Nazareth forced many hitting errors with blocks at the net. Hicks had a solo block and eight assisted blocks while Allocco had a solo block and three assisted blocks. Harrigan and Buseck each tallied five solo blocks, and sophomore Madi Wickens added an assisted block. Wickens finished with a match-high 23 assists for Nazareth's attack, too. Messmer and classmate Maureen Thayer each tallied 11 digs while Harrigan added 10 digs.

Against La Verne, Buseck amassed a team-high 12 kills with three attack errors, however, the Golden Flyers were held to 32 total kills. Wickens finished with a match-high 26 assists directing Nazareth's attack. Allocco finished with six kills while Hicks and Harrigan recorded five kills apiece. Messmer and Wickens also chipped in an additional three kills and one kill, respectively. The Golden Flyers had 14 kills in the opening set and finished the stanza with a .220 attack percentage. The Golden Flyers had nine kills in the second set with an attack percentage of .083, then they had an additional nine kills in the third set for an attack percentage of .160. The Leopards finished with four solo blocks and 14 assisted blocks to frustrate Nazareth's attack.

Defensively, Harrigan had a team-high eight digs, and Thayer added seven digs. Hicks and Allocco each had a solo block and an assisted block for Nazareth at the net. With at least 13 kills in each set, La Verne recorded hitting percentages of .257, .483, and .286. Brittney Yaxley had a match-high 14 kills to lead the Leopards.

The Golden Flyers travel to RIT for a non-conference match on October 15th before returning to Nazareth to host Cortland in another non-conference contest on October 18th.