No. 9 Nazareth Gets By Behrend

ERIE, Pa.  – The ninth-ranked Nazareth men's volleyball team managed to escape Penn State Behrend with a 3-0 win in United Volleyball Conference (UVC) action on Saturday afternoon.

The Lions (7-4, 4-3 UVC) came into the match looking for their second upset of the season against a nationally-ranked opponent, but the Golden Flyers (9-5, 7-1 UVC) posted two-point wins in the first two sets (25-23, 27-25) and then went on to capture the third set, 25-17.

Tim Zyburt led Nazareth with a game-high 12 kills and Mike McDonagh dished out 32 assists.

For Behrend, freshman Antonio Vazquez (San Juan, Puerto Rico/UHS) tallied 10 kills, five digs, three aces and one block. Grant Kocher (McMurray, PA/Peters Township) added seven kills, five digs and two blocks.

In the first set, the Lions had four chances to take a 1-0 lead in the match with a 23-19 advantage. The Golden Flyers were strong at the net, getting a pair of blocks and then forced three attack errors to put them within one point of winning the set. Zyburt got his fifth kill of the set for the final point to earn the comeback victory, 25-23.

Behrend rallied from a seven-point deficit in the second set to tie the game at 22-all. The see-saw battle continued until Shawn Calnan recorded a kill to make it 26-25 and Zyburt was there to finish the set once again for a 27-25 win for a 2-0 lead.

Nazareth pulled away in the third set, breaking a 9-all tie with a 16-7 run to claim the match.  

Josh Oertly (Cochranton, PA/Cochranton) finished with four blocks and Ty Sheehan (Cochranton, PA/Cochranton) recorded a team-best seven digs and five kills.

The Lions return to action tomorrow against Hilbert and Penn State Altoona, beginning at 1 p.m.