Postmatch Press Conference

The New York University men's volleyball team defeated Stevens Institute Technology in the United Volleyball Conference (UVC) Tournament Semifinals on Friday, April 14 at Vassar College in Poughkeepsie, NY.

The Violets (17-9), ranked #10 in the nation by the American Volleyball Coaches Association (AVCA), defeated the #3 Ducks (29-5) in five sets (25-22, 21-25, 20-25, 25-18, 15-11) to advance to tomorrow's UVC Championship match against #4 SUNY-New Paltz.

"It was a great win for the team, Stevens is an excellent squad," said Head Coach Jose Pina. "We started off well, but had a lull after game one. We made some unforced errors, but we recovered. We started serving better. We started blocking better and we were able to put pressure on Stevens. It was a great win and I'm really proud of these guys."

The Violets jumped out to a 10-4 lead and never trailed as they took the first set 25-22. NYU's 1-0 lead was turned into a 2-1 deficit as Stevens stormed back by winning the following two sets.

"After we won the first set, we thought they'd just roll over and let us win," said senior Derrick Chiu, who led all players with 51 assists and 11 digs. "After we were 2-1 down, everyone realized that this is it, this is our last chance, if we lose this game we're done."

In the fourth set, a key 5-1 run with the score tied 9-9 propelled the Violets to a 25-18 victory before closing out the Ducks in the fifth set 15-11.

"We had a lot of hustle plays and we started executing the game plan again," added Chiu. "Everything just fell into place."

TOP PERFORMERS

- Evan Lindley led all players with 25 kills and added 11 digs.

- Alex Li contributed 14 kills and eight digs.

- Andrew Zhu posted 11 kills and two service aces.

The Violets take on New Paltz in the UVC Championship Game tomorrow, Saturday, April 15, at 2:00 pm in Poughkeepsie.