Nazareth Tops Fisher in 5; Stevens Sweep Baruch; Houghton Drops 5 Setter

10/1/2014 9:20:00 PM

NAZARETH 3, ST. JOHN FISHER 2
Visiting Nazareth outlasted St. John Fisher Wednesday in an Empire 8 women's volleyball match. The Golden Flyers overcame a shaky start to rally past the Cardinals in five hard-fought sets. Scores were 16-25, 25-23, 26-24, 28-30, 15-13.

Senior Maria Allocco had 24 kills to pace Nazareth offensively. Sophomore Madi Wickens amassed 50 assists and sophomore libero Maureen Thayer had 27 digs.

Fisher dominated the first set by breaking away from a 9-9 deadlock to win 25-16. Nazareth prevailed in a close second set as Allocco, Olivia Harrigan and Jennifer Hicks each had three kills. With the set tied at 23-23, Nazareth got a kill from Hicks and a Fisher ball handling error to take the set.

In the third set, Nazareth fell behind 12-4 before rallying to win by two points. Nazareth finally squared the set at 20-20, but Fisher got a kill from Brooke Meader to reach set point at 24-22. Nazareth scored the last four points of the set -- Wickens and Hicks combined for a block, Harrigan added a kill and Fisher had two attacking errors.

The fourth set was a see-saw battle with Fisher taking the last two points on a kill by Anna Marcy and a Nazareth attack error. Allocco had seven of her kills in the set for Nazareth.

Nazareth led 4-2 in the fifth set after two kills by Allocco and one by Buseck. After Fisher tied the set at 6-6, Nazareth used two kills by Harrigan and a service ace by Allocco to go up 9-6. An ace from Wickens triggered a three-point run to extend the lead to 12-7. Fisher answered with six of the next seven points to tie the set at 13-13. Nazareth sealed the match with kills by Kassandra Buseck and Cady Messmer.

Buseck added 11 kills, Harrigan 10 and Hicks nine. Sophomore Rachel Williamson added five service aces and Harrigan added 11 digs.

On the night, Fisher freshman Madison Karwas led the Cardinals with a career-high 21 kills, while adding 10 digs and three blocks.   Classmate Anna Marcy totaled 13 kills and 12 digs.  

Paige Willson finished with eight kills and three blocks, while Amanda Miller also tallied three blocks.

Brooke Meader led Fisher with 27 assists, while Erin Crandall led her team with 25 digs and four aces.

Megan Miller also chipped in with eight kills, while Katie Mazierski notched 12 digs.


STEVENS 3, Baruch 0
The Stevens Institute of Technology women's volleyball team improved to 15-3 on the season with a straight-sets victory over Baruch College on Wednesday evening in Canavan Arena for its seventh consecutive win.

Stevens hit .351 overall in the match – 39 kills with 13 errors in 74 attempts – and notched nine service aces with 7.5 blocks (13 assists, one solo). The Ducks swung at a .591 clip in the first set to highlight the team's offensive output.

Set scores in the match were 25-11, 25-10, 25-18. In the second set, Stevens jumped out to a 6-2 lead and then ran off 11 straight points to build a 17-2 advantage before Baruch ended the streak. The Ducks also never trailed in the opening game.

Sophomore Mary Tobin led Stevens' offensive charge with 15 kills in 26 swings and no errors (.577 hitting percentage) with five digs.

Classmate Christina Sciarra reached double-digit kills with 10 and hit .333 with a pair of aces and digs. Freshman Brianna Evans notched seven kills with a match-high three aces.

Senior Ashley Castillo and junior Catie Shelton combined for 34 assists to guide the offense. Castillo dished out 20 assists in two sets to lead all players and added three blocks, while Shelton handed out 14 to go along with a tip kill.

Junior Annemarie Thomas tallied five block assists with four kills, while freshman Sydni Horner registered a match-best 12 digs.

Baruch was held to a -.138 hitting percentage and committed 20 errors and just 11 kills.


Alfred State 3, HOUGHTON 2
In Wednesday evening's match, the Houghton Volleyball team dropped 3 of 5 sets to the Pioneers of Alfred State, bringing the Highlanders to a 9-8 current season record.

The Pioneers were able to take the first set by a close score of 23-25. The Highlanders would then tie the match 1-1 by winning the second set 29-27, of which the "win by 2" rule was implemented. 

Alfred came back strong in the third set (25-16) to put themselves ahead of the Highlanders 2-1 in the match. Houghton would then answer back in set 4 with a 25-15 victory of their own, forcing a 5th set.

The fifth and final set went "neck and neck" with Houghton just falling short to Alfred, losing 15-12.

Hattie Burgher, Anna Coryell, and Hannah Compeau were all credited with a double-double; Burgher with 11 kills and 24 digs, Coryell with 30 assists and 11 digs, and Compeau with 10 kills and 17 digs. Laurel Wroblicky contributed defensively with 33 digs, followed by Alyssa Quimby with 14 of her own.