NEW YORK, N.Y. - On Saturday evening, men's volleyball took Vassar into five sets to push through the semifinal round of the UVC Conference tournament (25-23, 25-27, 27-25, 21-25, 15-10).

With the win, Nazareth's record improved to 19-10 overall and 5-2 in conference play while Vassar's season concluded at a record of 22-6 overall and 4-3 in conference play.

The entire match was neck-and-neck. The first set started out with neither team holding a lead more than two points until the Golden Flyers strung together three consecutive points at a score of 14-14 to go up three. A few points later, Nazareth had its biggest lead at a score of 20-16, but Vassar was quick to tie the game back up.

At a score of 21-21, the Golden Flyers were able to score two points in a row before trading points for the remainder of the set, taking the first set at a score of 25-23.

After some back-and-forth in the second set, the Golden Flyers went on a four point run to get to an early four-point lead at 8-4. The Golden Flyers' lead hung around that four point mark until Vassar was able to tie up the game at 14. At a score of 15-15, Ryan Murphy went on a three point run himself consisting of a kill and two service aces to give Nazareth a three point edge over Vassar.

Later in the set, Nazareth found itself up 23-20 before allowing Vassar to tie up the game at 23. At the end of the set Vassar scored two points for every single point Nazareth scored, eventually forcing the Golden Flyers to drop the set 27-25.

In the third set, Nazareth took control from the first point, eventually going up by eight in the biggest lead of the game at 20-12. Nazareth seemed to get a little too comfortable with the lead, as the Golden Flyers allowed Vassar to outscore them 13-4, Vassar taking its first lead of the game at 25-24. Backed into a corner, the Golden Flyers were able to score the final three points of the set consecutively including kills from Alex Bertino and Max Stuver to take the third set 27-25.

The fourth set started similar to the first, neither team holding a lead of more than two until late when Vassar went up 19-16 and extended its lead to 23-18 later on. Though the Golden Flyers were able to bring the lead down to two points at 23-21, there was not enough time to recover from the deficit and the Golden Flyers dropped the set 25-21.

In the final set, an early 4-1 run for the Golden Flyers gave Nazareth all the momentum. Vassar was able to tie up the game at 5-5, but a kill from Bertino stopped the lead from shifting. At a score of 11-9 the Golden Flyers forced match point with a three point run complete with two kills from Stuver and a Vassar error. The Golden Flyers took the game on a scramble play where Bodey Groff had a diving dig, followed by AJ Burda who sent the ball up high to keep it in play. Bertino was at the net to clean up the play with a joust, giving the Golden Flyers the win with a final set score of 15-10.

Owen Wickens led the Golden Flyers in kills with 18, followed closely by Bertino with 15 and Andrew Bodensteiner with seven. Murphy led the team in aces with five and blocks with four. Bodensteiner was second in blocks with three. Burda also led the team in two categories with 37 assists and 13 digs for a double-double. Bertino and Josh Weaver each had nine digs, while Wickens and Burda had 11 and four assists respectively.

The Golden Flyers are back in action on April 13th at 2 p.m. for the championship round of the UVC tournament against the host and No. 1 seed NYU.