Box l Updated stats | Tournament site
HOBOKEN, N.J. -- Second-seeded Nazareth fell to top-seeded Stevens in the Empire 8 Championship match for women's volleyball on Saturday. The scores were 27-25, 26-24, 25-16. The host Ducks overcame a 24-19 deficit in the first set, outlasted the Golden Flyers' rally in the second set, then pulled away from Nazareth in the third set. Senior Kassandra Buseck led the Golden Flyers with a match-high 17 kills with five errors on 36 attempts.

With the loss, Stevens snaps Nazareth's five-match winning streak and drops the Golden Flyers to 26-10. The Ducks improve to 31-6 overall with the victory, and they claim the Empire 8 automatic bid to the NCAA Division III Tournament. Nazareth, ranked fifth in the New York region, will hope for an at-large bid. The field will be announced Monday at 11 a.m.

After rallying from an early deficit, the Golden Flyers seemed to have the opening set under control. Trailing 13-9, Nazareth used a 15-6 scoring run to take a 24-19 lead. During the run, Buseck had five kills, and sophomore Cady Messmer had a pair of service aces. Stevens also committed five errors. To claim the set, the Ducks scored eight of the final nine points, including the final three that were tallied by Brianna Evans. Evans had a kill to even the match at 25 points, then after another kill, she sealed the set with a solo block of senior Maria Allocco's attack attempt.

In the second set, Nazareth trailed for the majority of the set before rallying to tie the score at 24 points apiece. Stevens stretched its lead to seven points three times, including 14-7, before the Golden Flyers scored six consecutive points to trim their deficit to one point. Buseck had a pair of kills and senior Katherine Race had two aces to lead Nazareth's quick rally. Stevens extended its lead back to five points and led 24-19 before the Golden Flyers nearly rallied. Junior Jennifer Hicks started the run with a kill, which was followed by two more kills by Buseck. After a Ducks' timeout, senior Olivia Harrigan and Buseck each added another kill to knot the score. The Ducks prevailed on an attack error by Buseck then a kill from Ashley Castillo.

In the third set, the teams traded points before Stevens pulled away. It was a two-point contest, 9-7, before the Ducks stretched their lead to six points. Nazareth closed to within four points, 20-16, but Stevens scored the final five points of the set to secure the victory.

Following Buseck, Hicks and Harrigan had eight kills and seven kills, respectively. Allocco, the Empire 8 Player of the Year, was held to just six kills with five errors on 27 attempts. Sophomore Madi Wickens had 28 assists while classmate Maureen Thayer finished with a team-high 16 digs.