Box | Updated stats
SANTA CRUZ, Calif. -- Seventh-ranked Nazareth closed out its west coast trip Saturday with a three-set sweep of Ramapo in men's volleyball. Nazareth won close match by scores of 26-24, 26-24, 25-22. The Golden Flyers improved to 19-6, while Ramapo fell to 11-11.

Nazareth had a whopping 19 kills in the opening set, including eight from freshman Zachary Gillard, who finished with 11 kills overall. Two of his kills came on the final two points of the set to break a 24-24 deadlock.

The second set also was close throughout and also was tied at 24-24 when senior Chris Mahan recorded one of his 10 kills. The final point came on a Ramapo attacking error.

In the third set, Nazareth fell behind 7-0 before rallying. A kill by Gillard finally got the Golden Flyers on the scoreboard and triggered a 13-5 scoring run that put Nazareth up 13-12. Trailing 19-16 later in the set, Nazareth called timeout and scored the next six points to take the lead for good at 22-19. Junior Kane Wittorff helped with a kill and a service ace, while senior Josh Hieb added a kill and a block.

Ramapo closed within 23-22, but kills by Gillard and Mahan closed the set and the match.

Senior Tim Zyburt led Nazareth with 13 kills on 20 swings for a .550 hitting percentage and sophomore setter Jake Kemp totaled 37 assists and five digs. Hieb also had eight kills.

Nazareth returns to United Volleyball Conference action Wednesday with a match at Elmira at 7 p.m.