Luke Boyer and Gautham Dasari combined for 35 kills as New York University's 10th-ranked men's volleyball team defeated ninth-ranked Nazareth College in four sets on Saturday afternoon in Rochester, NY.

It was the teams' United Volleyball Conference (UVC) opener as NYU now sits at 8-3 on the season (1-0 UVC) while Nazareth holds a 13-2 (0-1) record.

"Very important UVC win for the team," said head coach José Piña. "The young men played together through some difficult parts of the match in every set we played today. Nazareth is a very good team and playing them at their home presented the team with a strong challenge."

Boyer finished with a career-high 20 kills on .529 hitting and Dasari notched 15 kills at a .355 clip.

Neither side led by more than two points in a first set that saw 14 ties and seven lead changes, fitting for a pair of teams ranked back-to-back in the latest coaches poll. But, with the scored tied 23-23, Boyer came through with two straight kills to give the Violets a 25-23 win.

Nazareth bounced back well in the second set, however, never trailing in the frame and riding 16 kills on .464 hitting to a 25-20 victory which tied the match 1-1.

The Golden Flyers led 9-5 early in the third, but NYU used a 6-1 run to take an 11-10 lead and the Violets kept that advantage for the rest of the stanza. Dasari posted six kills in the set as NYU went on to win the third 25-20.

New York led for the entire fourth set but it went down to the wire as Nazareth came within one, 24-23, with the Violets sitting on match point. Boyer capped off his career day with the match-clinching kill though, aided by a blocking error from the hosts, as NYU claimed a 25-23 win to start conference play on the right note.

"The young men passed an important test today," Piña noted. "Luke had a career-high 20 kills and five digs. Gautham contributed 15 kills and Ryan Li set the team to an excellent .383 hitting percentage."

Li finished with a match-high 51 assists while Lucas Osiecki had a match-high digs along with six kills. Buddy Cohen was efficient in the middle, totaling nine kills on impressive .750 hitting. 

Ry Kagan chipped in five kills and three total blocks. Zach Knudsen aided the Violets' back line with seven digs.

NYU is right back at it tomorrow for another UVC match in upstate New York at Elmira College with first serve set for 1:00 p.m.