NYU Hosts UVC Championship This Weekend
With the United Volleyball Conference (UVC) regular season in the books, the stage has been set for the UVC Championship Tournament on Saturday and Sunday, April 14-15. Along with earning the #1 seed by going a perfect 11-0 in conference play, the Violets have gained the right to host the tournament at the Coles Sports Center.
Despite earning the top seed, the Violets (20-8, 11-0) have a very tough road to the finals. In its first match of the tournament, NYU is set to face eigth-seeded Penn State University-Behrend (9-17, 4-7). NYU did win the only regular season match between these two teams earlier in the season in straight sets, but struggled at times during that match. The Violets did dominate the second set, but had a tough time finishing off the Lions. Behrend managed to use very good team defense to hold all Violets, with the exception of Nick Capriccio, to single-digit kill totals. NYU's firepower eventually prevailed, as the squad won the match 25-23, 25-14, 25- 22. First serve for this quarterfinal match is set for 3:15 pm.
“Behrend is a strong opponent, they played us at a very high level in our first encounter,” said head coach Jose Pina. “We have to play our best to avoid the upset.”
There is one other quarterfinal match also set for 3:15 pm, and that is the highly anticipated rematch between #2 Stevens Institute of Technology (25-6, 9-2) and #7 SUNY New Paltz (18-10, 6-5). Despite being the higher seed, Stevens fell to New Paltz in a five-set battle 25-21, 27-25, 19-25, 22-25, 15-8. This is a clash of two offensive juggernauts, as Stevens leads the UVC in kills per set and assists per set, while New Paltz leads the conference in overall hitting percentage.
The last two quarterfinal matches of the tournament are both set for 5:30 pm. Third-seeded Medaille College (22-8, 8-3) is set to take on #6 Elmira College (22-16, 6-5). Medaille defeated Elmira in four sets the first time these squads met this season. That match consisted of many great offensive performances. Each team had three players with double-digit kill totals, but it was Medaille's efficiency, hitting an outstanding .424, that put them over the edge by a score of 25-19, 25-19, 27-29, 25-16.
The final quarterfinal match is one the Violets will be paying particularly close attention to. NYU will take on the winner of the match between #4 Nazareth College (24-8, 8-3) and #5 Vassar College (19-10, 7-4), assuming they defeat Penn State-Behrend. In their first meeting of the season, Vassar and Nazareth seemed as evenly matched as two teams could be. After winning the first two sets (25-22, 25-23), Nazareth dropped the next two (23-25, 21-25), before taking the final set in extra points (18-16).
NYU played extremely well in its first meeting against preseason #1 and defending Division III National Champion Golden Flyers. NYU defeated Nazareth at the UVC Crossover #1 by a score of 25-20, 21-25, 25-20, 20-25, 15-13.
"That win gave our team the confidence to know that we are capable of competing with any Division III volleyball program in the nation," said Pina.
NYU was not as fortunate in their first meeting of the season against Vassar. Even though the Violets are undefeated in conference play, NYU did fall to Vassar earlier in the season in a match that was deemed not to be an official conference match. The Violets were without their leader in kills, Taylor Fauntleroy, and really seemed to struggle, recording 22 attack errors compared to just 11 from the Brewers. NYU eventually fell to Vassar in straight sets by a score of 25-21, 26-24, 25-23. The Violets got their redemption later in the season, defeating the Brewers in a back-and-fourth five-set thriller that did count towards conference play. The squad rallied from a 2-1 set deficit to defeat the Brewers 19-25, 25-19, 21-25, 25-14, 15-5.