University of Rochester women's volleyball picked up its 13th-straight non-conference win, defeating the Nazareth University Golden Flyers, 3-1, on Wednesday evening inside the Louis Alexander Palestra.
The Yellowjackets got off to a hot start in the opening set, scoring five of the first seven points of the match as Paige Stephenson, Ashley Cook and Sonia McGaffigan all smashed kills. UR would extend its lead to six, 9-3 before the Golden Flyers spent their first timeout, but Rochester kept rolling, scoring the next five points after Nazareth struck first out of the timeout.
Up 14-4, an attack error slowed UR's roll, but the 'Jackets came back with three in a row to make it a 17-5 lead, with Ruby Moore connecting on back-to-back kills.
The Golden Flyers would pull back within single digits, 17-8, but again UR answered with three straight, including two more from Moore to make it 20-8.
Down 12, Nazareth would make one more run, pulling with seven, 23-16, on a Rochester service error, but an attack error gave the 'Jackets the serve back before McGaffigan threw up a block to finish off the first set, 25-16.
The 'Jackets held the Golden Flyers to a -.200 hitting percentage in the opening set, but Nazareth would pick things up from there, hitting .282 in the second.
Rochester got off to a slow start in the second set, trailing early, before four-straight, including three on Lydia Week's serve, knotted the set at six-all. The 'Jackets would then take their first lead of the set on Moore's kill, going up 10-9 with another 3-0 run, but the Golden Flyers withstood the run and came back with five straight of their own to go up 15-11 and force UR to spend a timeout.
UR kept things close, never letting Nazareth pull away, until a 4-0 run from UR leveled the score at 19-all, with Cook's kill and a block from McGaffigan and Megan Cahall keying the run.
However, once again, Nazareth answered, scoring the next three to go up 22-19 and force the 'Jackets to spend their second timeout. This time though, another Cahall-McGaffigan block made it 22-20, before the 'Jackets would score four in a row to take their first lead since 10-9.
Two kills from Moore and another from McGaffigan keyed the run, before McGaffigan's ace landed just inside the line to make it 24-23 UR. However, Leah Fusilli answered with a kill, before a block from Tessa Grover and Zipporah Sparkman gave Nazareth the lead right back, 25-24.
A kill from Stephenson would tie it, but Grover and Rylie Loomis would combine for the final two points of the set for Nazareth, giving the Golden Flyers a 27-25, set-two victory.
The Yellowjackets, though, quickly got things going as they looked to retake the lead in the third. Moore and Caroline Hoag opened the third set with three-straight kills, as the 'Jackets opened up an early 6-2 advantage.
Up 12-10 following a Grover kill, the 'Jackets made their run, scoring eight in a row to make it a 20-10 lead and put the set out of reach for the Golden Flyers, with seven of the eight points coming on Katie Westerheim's serve.
Nazareth would pull within eight late, but it'd be too little, too late, as Cahall's kill gave the 'Jackets set point, up 24-14. And after the Golden Flyers held off the set twice, Moore hit another kill to give UR the third set, 25-16.
The fourth set would prove to be much closer, with Nazareth taking the early lead behind kills from Grover, Ryleigh Bidwell and Rylie Loomis. The Golden Flyers led by as many as six in the fourth set, opening a 13-7 lead on Ella Kules' service ace.
But the 'Jackets answered with a run, scoring six of the next seven to pull within a point on Moore's kill and force Nazareth to use its first timeout.
Down 13-6, Stephenson's kill got UR going, while two more from Stephenson and Cahall keyed the 'Jackets 6-1 run before back-to-back Moore kills made it 14-all coming out of the timeout.
Two more points, all coming on Areti Tsirikaki's serve, extended the Yellowjackets' lead to 16-14 before Nazareth came back to tie things up at 17.
But after another tie at 18-18, the Yellowjackets took control of the fourth set, holding the Golden Flyers without a point the rest of the set to finish off the four-set win with a 25-18, fourth-set victory.
Moore hit three aces over the 7-0 run, including the clincher, while Cook, McKenzie McDonald and McGaffigan each contributed kills to help finish off the win.
Rochester moves to 13-6 with the win while the Golden Flyers fall to 6-12 with the loss.
Moore led the 'Jackets with a career-high 20 kills, adding five aces and five digs. McGaffigan joined Moore in double figures with 10 kills to go along with 5.5 blocks, an ace and three digs, while Cook and Stephenson added nine and eight kills each.
McDonald led UR in the assist department with 38, while Westerheim and Tsirikaki each tallied a pair of aces. Defensively, Lydia Weeks scored a career-high 23 digs, with McDonald adding 11 and Westerheim notching 10.