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Second-seeded Nazareth claimed its third straight Empire 8 Conference championship in women's volleyball Sunday as the Golden Flyers knocked off top-seeded and host Stevens in four sets. Scores were 25-20, 21-25, 27-25, 25-23.
Nazareth avenged its only conference defeat of the season and improved to 29-8 overall. Nazareth will make its third straight NCAA Tournament appearance and 11th overall. Junior middle blocker
Maria Allocco was named tournament MVP for the third year in a row after delivering 13 kills with just two hitting errors in 20 attempts. She also had six blocks.
Junior outside hitter
Chelsea Beecher also had a strong match and was named to the all-tournament team with a match-high 15 kills against one error in 33 attempts. Sophomore
Jennifer Hicks also represented the Golden Flyers on the all-tournament team with 10 kills with two errors in 19 attempts.
Nazareth's balanced attack also included 10 kills each for juniors
Kassandra Buseck and
Olivia Harrigan. Freshman
Madi Wickens totaled 40 assists and 17 digs and freshman libero
Maureen Thayer had 17 digs and two services aces.
Senior
Mary Caulson and junior
Katie Hall anded on the all-tournament squad for the Ducks. Caulson put down a team-high 11 kills with four digs, three blocks and two aces, while Hall recorded nine kills, seven total blocks and two aces.
Stevens junior
Kirsten Salmins tallied a match-best four aces with 15 digs, while senior
Samantha Gates picked up three aces to go along with 38 assists and 12 digs. Freshmen
Mary Tobin and
Christina Sciarra each chipped in nine kills for the Ducks. Tobin added 14 digs and two aces, while Sciarra recorded two blocks and two digs.
Both teams eclipsed 20-plus points in the four set affair, 25-20, 21-25, 27-25, 25-23, and at no time throughout the entirety of the match did either team hold more than a six point lead.
There was a significant disparity in kills and hitting percentage that favored Nazareth (59 kills, .300 hitting percentage) over Stevens (42 kills, .140 hitting percentage), but the Ducks tried to counter that difference with 13 aces to just five for the Golden Flyers.
Nazareth trailed for a good portion of the fourth set and was down 23-21 before calling a timeout. The Golden Flyers closed out the set and the match with four straight kills -- one by Allocco, one by Hicks and two by Beecher, including the title-clinching spike.
The third set also proved pivotal as Nazareth built a 13-6 lead only to have Stevens rally to tie the set at 20-20. The teams exchanged points and the set was tied again at 24-24 following a Nazareth timeout. Buseck and Allocco each recorded kills and a ball-handling error by Stevens turned the set over to Nazareth.
First-round pairings for the NCAA Tournament will be announced Monday.
All-Tournament Team
MVP - Maria Allocco (Nazareth)
Chelsea Beecher (Nazareth)
Jennifer Hicks (Nazareth)
Mary Caulson (Stevens)
Katie Hall (Stevens)
Taryn Rumsey (Elmira)
Shaelynn Schmidt (Ithaca)