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PITTSFORD, N.Y. -- Senior Carmen Sapp delivered four of her team-high 14 kills in the fifth and deciding set for visiting Nazareth Wednesday as the Golden Flyers held off St. John Fisher in a five-set women's volleyball match. Nazareth won the Empire 8 Conference showdown by scores of 25-21, 25-21, 20-25, 19-25, 15-7.
Nazareth improved to 11-3 overall and 2-1 in Empire 8 matches. Fisher dropped to 8-8 overall and 2-1 in the E8.
The Golden Flyers won the first two sets, then found themselves scrambling for survival after dropping sets three and four. Nazareth then used a .562 hitting percentage (10-1-16) to dominate the fifth set, while Fisher hit just .067 (3-2-15). In addition to Sapp's four kills, junior Melissa Newcomb had three and senior Madison Joseph added two more. Sapp's 14 kills also were a career high and came against just three hitting errors on 33 attempts for a .333 hitting percentage.
The set was tied 4-4 before a kill by Newcomb gave Nazareth the lead for good. That triggered a 6-1 scoring spree that enabled the Golden Flyers to pull away. Another kill by Newcomb, two more from Sapp and a service ace for Joseph extended Nazareth's lead to 10-5. Another kill by Newcomb was followed by a couple of Fisher hitting errors before Sapp added another kill to close out the match.
Joseph finished with 13 kills and 14 digs and Newcomb added 11 kills and three blocks. Senior Kelsey Milligan had nine kills and sophomore setter Jessica Barry totaled 41 assists.
Nazareth got three kills each from Joseph and Newcomb and added three service aces and never trailed in the first set. The Golden Flyers rallied to take the second set as kills from Joseph and Sapp enabled them to pull away from a 15-15 tie. Fisher closed to within 21-20 late in the set, but Milligan closed it out with back to back kills for a 2-0 Nazareth lead.
Fisher controlled sets three and four to force a decisive fifth set as Alea Steigerwald had 10 of her match-best 20 kills.
Milligan also finished with four blocks and a pair of service aces. Celia Cordero added 13 digs and Savannah Bothner had 10.
Nazareth has another Empire 8 Conference match Saturday at Hartwick at 1 p.m.