Box Score 1 | Box Score 2 Kean box | NYU box | Updated stats | Tournament page
HOBOKEN, N.J. -- Senior Maria Allocco had 14 kills and four service aces and sophomore setter Madi Wickens combined 38 assists with 11 digs as Nazareth held off a surge by Kean to take a non-conference women's volleyball match in five sets. Nazareth won by scores of 23-25, 25-14, 25-16, 23-15, 15-12 in its first match at the New York State Regional Challenge hosted by Stevens. Nazareth swept New York University in the second match by scores of 25-20, 25-22, 25-13.

At 24-9 overall, Nazareth is scheduled to play Montclair and Rowan Saturday at 10 a.m. and 2 p.m. respectively. Kean is 15-16 overall and NYU is 19-14.

Nazareth used 18 service aces, including five in the decisive fifth set, to control the match against Kean. Sophomore Rachel Williamson had five aces, sophomore Brianna Spears added four and sophomore Cady Messmer had three.

Trailing 10-9 in the fifth set, Nazareth recovered by scoring three straight points to take the lead for good. Allocco and Messmer combined for a block to square the set at 10-10 and then Allocco served up two straight aces to make it 12-10. Three Kean attack errors enabled Nazareth to close out the match.

After dropping the first set, Nazareth had 22 kills across the second and third sets to win those easily. Allocco had seven of her kills over those two sets and senior Olivia Harrigan added four more. In addition, Williamson served up four of her aces in succession to seal the third set.

Harrigan finished with nine kills and six digs and senior Kassandra Buseck had 10 kills. Other stats included 19 digs for Maureen Thayer, six kills and 12 digs for Messmer and eight kills for junior Jennifer Hicks.

In the NYU match, Allocco and Buseck each had 12 kills and Wickens contributed 37 assists. The Golden Flyers posted an efficient hitting percentage of .379 (45-12-87) and had 12 more service aces with Messmer accounting for six of those.