Ramapo box | Medaille box | Updated stats | Tournament site
ROCHESTER, N.Y. -- Unranked Medaille pulled off a stunning upset in men's volleyball Saturday as the Maverick knocked off eighth-ranked Nazareth in four sets. Scores were 25-21, 26-24, 17-25, 27-25. The match was played as part of the two-day Golden Flyer Invitational at the Kidera Gymnasium. Earlier in the day Nazareth defeated Ramapo in three sets by scores of 25-19, 25-21, 25-14.

The victory was just the second of the season in nine matches for Medaille. Nazareth, which looked strong in defeating UC Santa Cruz in three sets on Friday, lost for the first time this season and now stands at 11-1 overall.

Junior Tim Zyburt, who represented Nazareth on the all-tournament team along with senior Nick McDonagh, posted a match-high 17 kills and freshman Sam Bittler added nine and junior Grant Levermore had eight. The Golden Flyers, however, committed 29 hitting errors as a team and hit a collective .197 (52-29-117) for the match. Medaille, on the other hand, used a .272 hitting percentage (44-16-103) and got 11 kills from Nate Schneider and 10 from Calvin Crosby.

Nazareth nearly won the fourth set to force a fifth as the Golden Flyers rallied from a 23-18 deficit to tie the score at 24-24 on a kill by Bittker. Medaille regained the lead at 25-24 on a kill by Crosby, but Bittker managed another kill to square the set again. Medaille claimed the final two points on a service error by Bittker and a hitting error by Levermore.

Crosby and David Riggsby each had four kills for Medaille in the first set. In the second set, Nazareth squandered a 24-21 lead as the Maverick scored the last five points to take a two sets to none lead. Zyburt had five kills in the third set and Levermore had three as Nazareth forced the decisive fourth set.

Senior Luke Lawatsch and junior Chris Mahan each added seven kills and freshman setter Jake Kemp totaled 45 assists. Junior Cory Randolph had nine digs. Riggsby added seven kills and 32 assists fro Medaille and Crosby contributed eight digs.

Against Ramapo, Junior Zyburt delivered a match-high 11 kills to go with six digs and three blocks. Zyburt's kills were evenly dispersed with four in the first set, four more in the second and three in the third. The Golden Flyers played well defensively in forcing 26 hitting errors by Ramapo, which hit just .026 (28-26-77) for the match. Senior Brody Cord added four kills and three service aces, McDonagh had 15 assists and Kemp had eight assists.

Nazareth plays a pair of United Volleyball Conference matches Saturday at home against Bard at 11 a.m. and Stevens at 3 p.m.