Box Score 1 | Box Score 2 Skidmore box l Cortland box l Tournament site
SCHENECTADY, N.Y. -- The Nazareth women's volleyball team stretched its winning streak to six matches on Friday night with a three-set victory over Skidmore in its opening match then the Golden Flyers defeated Cortland in four sets. The scores against Skidmore were 25-22, 25-10, 25-23, and the scores against Cortland were 25-17, 24-26, 25-12, 25-21. Nazareth resumes action at the Union Invitational with a pair of matches on Saturday.

Following the matches, the Golden Flyers improve to 6-4 overall with the victory. With the loss, Skidmore slips to 2-5 overall. Cortland slides to 5-6 overall following its loss.

In its match against Skidmore, Nazareth finished with hitting percentages of .242, .259, and .270 as the Golden Flyers amassed at least 10 kills in each set against the Thoroughbreds. Senior Olivia Harrigan tallied a match-high 15 kills on 32 attempts with only three errors. In addition to the kills from Harrigan, senior Maria Allocco and junior Jennifer Hicks each recorded eight kills while senior Kassandra Buseck finished with seven kills. Sophomores Cady Messmer and Brianna Spears and freshmen Mallory Cobb and Abigail Shields each chipped in one kill apiece. The majority of the Golden Flyers' attacks were directed by sophomore Madi Wickens, who finished with 20 assists. Classmate Maureen Thayer finished with 10 assists.

Nazareth finished the match with a 13-8 advantage in service aces. Wickens, Allocco, and Thayer each had three service aces while Harrigan had two aces and Hicks and Buseck each added one.

Defensively, 10 Nazareth players recorded multiple digs to thwart Skidmore attacks. Messmer and Thayer tallied five digs apiece to lead the team, followed by senior Katherine Race, Harrigan, Buseck, and freshman Caroline Auricchio, who each recorded four digs. The Golden Flyers allowed only 14 kills and forced 10 hitting errors to frustrate the Thoroughbreds throughout the match. Skidmore finished with hitting percentages of .200 (8 kills, 3 errors), -.125 (2 kills, 5 errors), and .118 (4 kills, 2 errors) in the three-set match.

Against Cortland, Nazareth's balanced attack had four players with at least 11 kills. Buseck amassed a match-high 20 kills on 37 attempts with 10 errors. Hicks recorded 14 kills while Harrigan and Allocco each had 11 kills. Wickens and Messmer also added four kills apiece. As the Golden Flyers' primary setter, Wickens finished with 55 assists. Nazareth recorded hitting percentages of .257, .393, .263, and .297 as the Golden Flyers tallied at least 14 kills in each set.

Thayer and Buseck finished in double-figures in digs with 16 and 10, respectively, and Wickens contributed nine digs. At the net, Hicks had a pair of solo blocks and a pair of assisted blocks to stymie the Red Dragons' attack. Harrigan also had two assisted blocks. Buseck and Allocco each had one assisted block. The Golden Flyers held Cortland to 28 kills and forced 20 hitting errors over the course of the match. The Red Dragons finished with hitting percentages of .080 (7 kills, 5 errors), .120 (8 kills, 5 errors), -.125 (3 kills, 6 errors), and ,214 (10 kills, 4 errors).

Similar to its match against Skidmore, Nazareth used an advantage in service aces in its victory. Against Cortland, the Golden Flyers recorded an 11-5 advantage. Race tallied three service aces, and Allocco, Harrigan, and Buseck added two aces apiece.

On Saturday, Nazareth is scheduled to play Oneonta at 1 p.m. and Union at 3 p.m.