NAZARETH SURGES TO E8 TITLE
Golden Flyers knock off Ithaca, RIT to gain NCAA berth
• ITHACA MATCH | • RIT MATCH | • CUMULATIVE STATS

ROCHESTER, N.Y. (Nov. 4, 2006) -- Nazareth's third-seeded women's volleyball team scored a pair of dramatic victories Saturday at RIT as the Golden Flyers secured the Empire 8 Conference championship and a trip to the NCAA Division III Tournament.

Nazareth will travel to Calvin College in Grand Rapids, Mich. to play in the Great Lakes Regional on Thursday.

On a day in which both the men's and women's soccer teams also won titles and secured playoff berths, the volleyball team made it a three-for-three day. Nazareth defeated second-seeded Ithaca in a wild five-game semifinal match 22-30, 30-25, 20-30, 32-30, 15-10. The Golden Flyers followed that up by upsetting top-seeded RIT in three games 32-30, 30-28, 30-22.

"It was just a great, all-around team effort," said Nazareth Coach Cal Wickens. "The bottom line is that we outworked and outhustled two really good volleyball teams."

Nazareth improved to 17-20 overall and gained its first NCAA berth since 2003.

In the title match, Nazareth staged dramatic rallies in games one and two to win each game by two points, taking "the wind out of their sails," Wickens said. Then in game three, Nazareth was comfortably ahead throughout.

Junior Laura Persico (pictured) finished with 12 kills, two service aces and 16 digs and freshman Katelynn Reed delivered 11 kills, two digs and three blocks. Freshman setter Kate Zwickl was credited with 33 assists and five kills.

Against Ithaca, Nazareth trailed 27-22 in the fourth game before rallying to win 32-30. In the decisive fifth game, junior Elizabeth Tregan had four of her team-high 20 kills and Persico had three of her 18 kills and one service ace. Reed and fellow freshman Kristina Muelller each had 10 kills and setters Zwickl and Elyse Monje combined for 55 assists.

"We played our best volleyball at the most important time," said Wickens, whose team began the day a collective 0-4 against RIT and Ithaca. "This is a great day for the Nazareth volleyball program."