UTICA, N.Y. - Finally.

The Bard College men's volleyball team, after a couple of agonizing close matches, won its first-ever match in the United Volleyball Conferece with a 3-1 victory over SUNY Institute of Technology on Wednesday night.

Set scores for Bard were 25-15, 25-21, 23-25 and 28-26.

The Raptors, 8-14 overall and 1-9 in the UVC, have won two in a row.

Bard jumped out early, hitting .474 in the first set and .371 in the second, taking a relatively easy two-sets-to-none lead, but SUNYIT (0-11 UVC, 2-22 overall) started fighting back, and took the third set, 25-23.

The Raptors pulled it together and narrowly took the fourth set, breaking into the UVC win column for the first time. This is Bard's first season in the UVC.

Nick Chan led Bard with 16 kills, three aces and seven digs. Eliah Gardner had 10 kills, no hitting errors, and produced a .455 hitting percentage. He also had seven digs. Henry Kasiske had three kills, 28 assists and five blocks, and Ryan Fallon added nine kills, two aces and three blocks.

Next up for Bard is a tri-match at College of Mount St. Vincent on Saturday with Lehman. The Raptors will play Lehman at noon and Mount St. Vincent at 2.