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TOURNAMENT SITEMAHWAH, N.J. -- Senior Tom Maving posted 14 kills and senior Adam DiCicco combined 13 kills with nine digs Friday as third-seeded Nazareth won its first-round match at the North East Collegiate Volleyball Association Tournament hosted by Ramapo. The Golden Flyers defeated 14th-seeded Elms College in four games 30-28, 30-21, 28-30, 33-31.
The Golden Flyers (28-6) advanced to Saturday's 1 p.m. quarterfinal match. Nazareth will play sixth-seeded Newbury (29-9), a four-game winner over 11th-seeded D'Youville in another first-round match. Newbury won by scores of 30-24, 30-21, 24-30, 30-19. The semifinals are Saturday at 4 p.m. and the championship match is Sunday at 1 p.m.
Maving had five of his kills in the first game and six more in the second and junior setter Frank Leahy had 28 assists over that stretch to give the Golden Flyers a commanding two-game lead. Nazareth dominated the second game by using a .393 hitting percentage to take control. DiCicco also had five of his kills in that game.
In game three, Nazareth was two points away from a three-game sweep, leading 28-25, before Elms rallied to score the last five points to force a fourth game.
The Golden Flyers looked to be in control in the fourth game as well as they led by as many as six points. Elms rallied to take a 31-30 lead. Nazareth came back to score the last three points to clinch the match. Maving had a kill to tie the score and, after an Elms attacking error, Nazareth got the final point on a solo block by senior Kellen Gambeski.
Gambeski finished with seven kills and six blocks and Leahy had 48 assists. Elms was led by Tim Gordon's match-high 17 kills and 16 from Alberto Bravo.