Hilbert box | RIT box | Tournament site
ROCHESTER, N.Y. -- Nazareth won a pair of women's volleyball matches Friday to complete a successful first day of the Golden Flyer Invitational at Nazareth's Kidera Gymnasium. The Golden Flyers made short work of Hilbert in the first match as they swept the Hawks in three sets by scores of 25-17, 25-12, 25-14.

Nazareth then defeated RIT in the second match in four sets by scores of 20-25, 25-20, 25-11, 25-21. Nazareth improved to 4-2 overall, while Hilbert remains winless at 0-6 overall. RIT is 3-4.

A full slate of matches are scheduled for Saturday, starting at 11 a.m. Nazareth's first match is at 1 p.m. vs. Vassar. The Golden Flyers also play Medaille at 5 p.m.

Against Hilbert, freshman Kelsey Milligan posted a career-high nine kills with two blocks and junior Cady Messmer added four kills and a team-best 12 digs. Junior Maureen Thayer, playing only in the third set, had 10 assists. Junior Rachel Williamson had eight assists and Stephanie Colao added six. Freshmen Margorie Didas and Carmen Sapp each had four kills.

Morgan Ott led the Hawks with nine kills. Kamalei Lene had 13 assists.

In the RIT match, Messmer posted a team-best 10 kills to go with three aces and 11 digs. Senior Jennifer Hicks and freshman Celia Cordero each had seven kills. Freshman libero Olivia Krick had 14 digs and junior setter Maureen Thayer amassed 26 assists.

After dropping the first set, Nazareth got five kills and three aces from Messmer in the second set to square the match. Nazareth rolled in the pivotal third set with nine kills against just one hitting error in 21 attempts for a .381 percentage. Messmer and freshman Carmen Sapp each had three kills. Nazareth jumped to a 13-3 lead in the fourth set, before RIT rallied to make it close. Nazareth had just five kills in the set, but benefitted from 11 RIT hitting errors. Milligan accounted for three of those errors with effective blocks.