ELMIRA, N.Y. – The Elmira College men's volleyball team hosted the Golden Flyers of Nazareth University for a conference contest inside Speidel Gymnasium on Wednesday night. The Soaring Eagles claimed the first set but ultimately fell to the Golden Flyers, 3-1.

PLAY-BY-PLAY
Nazareth captured the first two points of the contest. A kill by Luke Jaya gave the Soaring Eagles their first point of the match. Drake Connors picked up a kill a few rallies later to put EC down by just one, 4-3. A kill from Gabriel Staron started the Soaring Eagles on a three-point run that evened up the score at seven. A kill by Dylan Vargas a few rallies later kept the score even. A pair of kills by Jaya gave the Soaring Eagles the advantage 12-11. Elmira grabbed three consecutive points, capped off by a block by Staron and Vargas. Another kill for Jata a bit later put the Soaring Eagles in front 21-17. Connors concluded the first set with a kill, claiming the set for EC, 25-20. Elmira opened set two with a block by Jata and Vargas for the early advantage. Nazareth responded with three consecutive points. EC responded a bit later with a four-point scoring run that included a kill from Ethan Davenport, to go up 7-6. The Golden Flyers answered again, this time with three consecutive points to retake the advantage. It was followed up by a five-point run shortly after that, giving Nazareth tons of momentum. A kill from Staron and a pair from Jata slowed the momentum and brought the deficit back to two points. Nazareth went on another four-point scoring run, Davenport answered that with a kill to slow momentum. Nazareth picked up four of the next five points to claim the second set 25-17 and even up the match.

Connors opened the third set with a kill for EC, but it was quickly answered with three straight points for the Golden Flyers. Two kills from Staron tried to get momentum back for EC but was once again answered with three points in a row for Nazareth. Jata and Davenport tallied kills for Elmira, cutting the deficit to 10-7 in the third set. The Golden Flyers notched four of the next five points, extending the advantage to 14-9. Staron and Jata tallied another kill a piece, adding to their big days, but Nazareth scored four points in a row as a response. A three-point run for the Soaring Eagles wasn't enough as the Golden Flyers claimed the third set 25-19. Nazareth tallied the opening point of the fourth set and jumped out to an early 6-3 advantage. Staron notched three consecutive kills, as his huge game continued, to cut the deficit to one point. Connors and Davenport picked up kills as EC tried to take back momentum but still trailed 15-13. The Golden Flyers went on another scoring run that brought them up to 24 points. A kill from Jata tried to grab momentum for an Elmira comeback but it was too late, the Golden Flyers claimed the fourth set 25-17, and the match 3-1.

LEADERS
Offensively, Staron led the way with 15 kills and notching four digs. Jata tallied 14 kills and picked up three digs. Connors totaled five kills and five digs. Nick Rohman led Elmira with 25 assists.

UP NEXT
The Soaring Eagles are back inside Speidel Gymnasium on Friday March 13^th for a conference matchup with the Statesmen of Hobart College. The match is set to start at 6:00 PM.