ROCHESTER, NY – Freshman Ryan Murphy tallied a career-high nine kills and junior Josh Weaver put down 19 as the Nazareth men's volleyball team took down 11th-ranked Hobart 25-18, 20-25, 25-20, 25-22 to open up UVC conference play on Tuesday night. Nazareth hit an efficient .346 for the match with 50 kills on 104 attacks with 14 errors.

Nazareth is now 10-7 overall and 1-0 in league play, while Hobart drops to 17-3 and 0-1, respectively.

Nazareth came out swinging strong, hitting .391 with 11 kills on 23 attempts with just two errors. The Golden Flyers benefited by jumping out to a big lead, 10-3, after a kill from Andrew Bodensteiner. He hit .583 with nine kills for the match. Hobart threatened by coming all the way within one point at 17-16, but Nazareth finished the set strong.

After dropping the second set and only hitting .097, the hosts erupted to hit .667 in the third with 18 kills on 24 attempts with just two errors. Naz took the lead for good at 4-3 and never looked back.

The decisive fourth set was tight throughout with Nazareth steadying the ship at the end. A Hobart service error broke a 22-22 tie, followed by an AJ Burda kill, capped with an Alex Bertino service ace. Bertino finished with five kills, while Burda dished out 43 assists.

Owen Wickens had nine kills and nine digs. Murphy also had four block assists.