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HOBOKEN, N.J. (November 10, 2013) – In a highly contested Empire 8 Conference Championship final on Saturday between the Stevens Institute of Technology women's volleyball team and Nazareth College, Nazareth came away with a 3-1 victory to claim the 2013 Empire 8 title. With the win, the Golden Flyers secure a spot in the NCAA Division III Women's Volleyball Championship.

Stevens (27-7) will find out its fate tomorrow at 11 a.m. to see if the Ducks were selected as an at-large team into the championship. The live selection show with be available on NCAA.com.

Nazareth's Maria Allocco was named the tournament's Most Valuable Player after posting 13 kills on 20 swings for a .550 hitting percentage with six total blocks and four digs. Chelsea Beecher (15 kills, 11 digs, two aces) and Jennifer Hicks (10 kills, three blocks, .421 hitting percentage) were named to the all-tournament team for the Golden Flyers.

Senior Mary Caulson (West Islip, N.Y.) and junior Katie Hall (Midlothian, Va.) landed on the all-tournament squad for the Ducks. Caulson put down a team-high 11 kills with four digs, three blocks and two aces, while Hall recorded nine kills, seven total blocks and two aces.

Both teams eclipsed 20-plus points in the four set affair, 25-20, 21-25, 27-25, 25-23, and at no time throughout the entirety of the match did either team hold more than a six point lead.

There was a significant disparity in kills and hitting percentage that favored Nazareth (59 kills, .300 hitting percentage) over Stevens (42 kills, .140 hitting percentage), but the Ducks tried to counter that difference with 13 aces to just five for the Golden Flyers.

Junior Kirsten Salmins (Wyckoff, N.J.) tallied a match-best four aces with 15 digs, while senior Samantha Gates (Wilmington, N.C.) picked up three aces to go along with 38 assists and 12 digs.

Freshmen Mary Tobin (Boothwyn, Pa.) and Christina Sciarra (Montclair, N.J.) each chipped in nine kills for the Ducks. Tobin added 14 digs and two aces, while Sciarra recorded two blocks and two digs.

Sophomores Catie Shelton (Central Square, N.Y.) and Annemarie Thomas (Durham, N.C.) got in on the actions with five digs from Shelton and four kills from Thomas.

Nazareth produced all but one kill from five different players in the match to go along with all 10 total blocks (16 assists, two solo). After the 15 from Beecher, 13 by Allocco and 10 from Hicks, Olivia Harrigan and Kassandra Buseck also put down 10 kills. Buseck was in on five block assists, while Harrigan stuffed four more.

Although the third set went to extra points, the fourth set was actually the most thrilling of the match. Within the 25-23 outcome, there were 15 ties and eight lead changes, compared to 12 ties and five lead changes in the other three sets combined.

The Ducks finish the season with a 27-7 overall record which is a 10-win improvement from last fall and a 10.5-game turnaround from 2012.  The 27 victories are also the sixth-most in school history.

All-Tournament Team

MVP - Maria Allocco (Nazareth)

Chelsea Beecher (Nazareth)
Jennifer Hicks (Nazareth)
Mary Caulson (Stevens)
Katie Hall (Stevens)
Taryn Rumsey (Elmira)
Shaelynn Schmidt (Ithaca)

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