PITTSFORD, NY – University of Rochester women's volleyball picked up a midweek sweep of the Nazareth University Golden Flyers to run their win streak to four games on Wednesday evening inside Robert A. Kidera Gymnasium.
 
The win, the 'Jackets' third sweep in four contests, moves Rochester to 5-6 on the year, while Nazareth drops to 3-7 with the loss.
 
Despite scoring the first five points of the opening set on Alexia Nelms' serve, Nazareth would answer back with five-straight points of their own, leveling the set at five-all on a kill from Ruth Jackson. Two kills from Myla Nover-Estes as well as Nelms' ace helped UR jump out to the early lead, while back-to-back kills from Rylee Bergeron helped UR retake a 7-5 advantage.
 
And while the Yellowjackets would again jump ahead by five, the Golden Flyers answered with another run keeping things close before pulling ahead by one, 17-16, on back-to-back attack errors to force UR to take a timeout.
 
Out of the timeout, the Golden Flyers kept rolling and took a four-point lead, 20-16, and matched Rochester over the next two points to remain up by four, 22-18. Down four though, UR won back serve on an attack error from Rylie Loomis, before Paige Stephenson struck down a kill from Nelms, making it a two-point game.
 
The Golden Flyers took a timeout, but the Yellowjackets kept on rolling, scoring the last seven points of the opening set to turn a four-point, 22-18 deficit into a 25-22 set-one victory. Back-to-back aces from Katie Westerheim leveled the set at 22-all and then gave UR a 23-22 lead, while kills from Bergeron and Cook finished off the set to put Rochester up 1-0.
 
The Golden Flyers then went up early to start set two, leading by as many as six, 7-1, as the home side notched a block and three early kills. But UR made their way back, scoring five of the next six to cut the deficit to three, 9-6, following kills from Caroline Hoag and Nover-Estes.
 
Nazareth called a timeout and scored the first two points out of time, but a big Rochester response, UR scored the next eight points, highlighted by four-straight Bergeron kills gave the 'Jackets a 15-11 advantage midway through set two.
 
And while Nazareth momentarily slowed Rochester's run with a kill from Loomis, the 'Jackets came right back with six-straight to put the set out of reach, with kills from Cook, Stephenson and Nelms making it a 21-12 game.
 
Rochester would finish off the second set, 25-16, on a pair of kills from Nover-Estes and Bergeron, and kept things rolling into the third set, notching the first five points as they looked to finish off the sweep.
 
The Yellowjackets led by as many as eight in the early goings of set three, and despite a timeout from Nazareth with the Golden Flyers trailing 10-3, the 'Jackets cruised ahead with five more. A block from Cook and Stephenson brought UR's lead out to 14-4, while two serves later, another block, this time from Nelms and Stephenson, made it 16-4.
 
The 'Jackets led by as many as 17 in the final set, taking advantage of six attack errors from the Golden Flyers while hitting .379 with 13 kills themselves en route to a 25-8 third-set victory to finish off a sweep of the Golden Flyers.
 
Offensively, Bergeron led UR with a double-double, notching a team-high 13 kills to go along with 11 digs, while Nelms led the 'Jackets with 34 assists. Nelms and Westerheim each tallied three service aces while Cook and Nover-Estes each recorded nine kills.
 
Defensively, Cook and Lydia Weeks led Rochester with 13 digs apiece, while Stephenson totaled a pair of block assists.
 
As a team, UR outhit Nazareth, .282 to .097, and hit 44 kills, compared to just 24 for the Golden Flyers.
 
The Yellowjackets next head to Annville, PA for a tri-match against Lebanon Valley College and Catholic University on Saturday, Sept. 21 beginning at 11:00 a.m.