UNION, N.J. -- The Elizabethtown College men's volleyball team started off CVC play with a road win at Kean on Saturday. Logan Smith and Alex Finch combined for 35 kills and Nate Seeger tallied a career-high 52 assists in the four-set victory for the Blue Jays.

It was a close, back-and-forth first set between Elizabethtown and Kean. The teams exchanged one-point leads and ties for much of the set. It was 18-18 when Nick Chapman and Finch had consecutive kills to put the Jays ahead by two, 20-18. Finch closed out the first set with an ace to put Etown up 1-0 in the match.

The Cougars got even in the second set. It played out similarly to the first, though the roles reversed as Kean grabbed the final couple points of the set to get the win and tie the match up at 1-1.

Kean led by as many as three points in the third set, but a strong rally by the Jays down 14-12 got them back in front and with a bit of a cushion as they went on an 8-0 spurt to go ahead 20-14. The Cougars pushed back, but it was a little too late as Smith and Finch ended the third with kills for the Blue Jays, both coming off sets from Seeger.

Elizabethtown stormed out to 5-1, 7-2 and 10-4 leads in the fourth set as they looked to finish off the Cougars in four. Kean got within four, but the teams would trade off points as Etown got closer and closer to ending the match without conceding their lead.

The Cougars rallied off three straight to get within two, 21-19, but Smith put down the kill from Seeger to make it 22-19. Finch followed up with another ace to put EC two points away from their first conference win of the season. Kean got a point to extend, but Trey Weedon used a pass from Seeger to put it at match point. Kean made it interesting, 24-22, but an attack error led to Elizabethtown's fourth-set win to improve to 8-3 overall and 1-0 in the CVC.

Smith had a match-high 19 kills while Finch's six aces were also the most among all players. Weedon added four blocks and Chapman led the Jays with 14 digs.

The men's volleyball team will play at Widener on Tuesday, February 20, at 7:30 p.m.