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NEW YORK, N.Y. -- Senior Cady Messmer had 10 kills and sophomore Kelsey Milligan had nine for Nazareth Friday as the Golden Flyers scored a first-round victory over New York University in the New York Regional Challenge at Hunter College. Scores were 25-19, 25-23, 25-19.

With two more matches Saturday, the Golden Flyers improved to 21-8 overall, while NYU dropped to 14-13. Nazareth plays Rochester at 12:30 p.m. and Rowan at 2:30.

Messmer, who needs two more kills to reach 1,000 for her career, also had 13 digs and two service aces, while senior Maureen Thayer totaled 27 assists. Freshman Melissa Newcomb added six kills and sophomore Carmen Sapp and freshman Delaney Martin each had five kills. Sophomore libero Celia Cordero had a match-best 16 digs.

Nazareth started strong in surging to an 11-2 lead in the opening set and cruising. Milligan and Sapp each had four kills in the first set.

The second set was tied at 17-17 before Nazareth began to pull away. Kills by Martin and Milligan and a couple of NYU attacking errors enabled Nazareth to extend its lead to 22-18. NYU was able to draw within 24-23 after a Nazareth attacking error, but a kill by Messmer closed out the set.

Nazareth then dominated the third set with 10 kills, including four by Martin.