ELMIRA, N.Y. – The Elmira College men's volleyball team dropped its UVC home-opener to the Golden Flyers from Nazareth College on Wednesday evening, 3-1. On Code Purple Night in front of the Soaring Eagle faithful, the Soaring Eagles battled to win the third set but a .310 hitting percentage in the set for Nazareth sent the guests home with a 3-1 victory.
 
Six-time Empire 8 Rookie of the Week Alberto Mauricio '25 paced Elmira with 14 kills, while Oscar Munoz Trinidad '23 added 7 kills, 17 assists, 8 digs, and a pair of blocks. Jordan Peiser '24 also recorded 10 kills on the night for the Soaring Eagles along with three service aces.

JUST THE BASICS:
SCORE: Elmira 1, Nazareth 3
LOCATION: Elmira, New York | Speidel Gymnasium
RECORDS: Elmira (11-9, 1-3 UVC), Endicott (17-6, 2-2 UVC)

HOW IT HAPPENED:
The Golden Flyers narrowly edged Elmira in hitting percentage in the opening set, edging the Soaring Eagles by just .043% in route to a 25-23 first set victory. In the set, the Soaring Eagles found themselves down 22-17 before a six-point run with Peiser at the service positing tied the opening set at 22-22. From there, Nazareth would take three of the next four points to take the set, 25-23. In the set, Mauricio went on to record 6 kills, while Alex Adelman '22 notched four digs.
 
In the second, The Golden Flyers hit .471% compared to .000% for Elmira. Mauricio led the way with three kills, while the visitors posted just a pair of attacking errors compared to eight for the Soaring Eagles. In the set, Elmira found itself trailing 19-15 before the Golden Flyers used a 5-0 run to increase its lead to 24-15. Nazareth captured a 2-0 lead in the set following an EC service error.
 
The Soaring Eagles battled back to take the third set after an astonishing .524 hitting percentage that featured 12 kills and just one attacking error. Mauricio led the set once again with five kills, while Munoz Trinidad added six assists as Elmira narrowly edged the Golden Flyers 25-22.
 
In the fourth, the Flyers jumped out to a quick 13-4 lead and never looked back, using 11 kills and just two attacking errors compared to nine errors from the Soaring Eagles to take the set 25-15.

UP NEXT:
Elmira will return to Speidel Gymnasium on Friday evening when they take on the Hawks from Hilbert College. First serve is set for 6:00 PM.