Box Score

The New York University men's volleyball team fell in straight sets to rival Juniata College on Saturday afternoon, Jan. 31, at the Coles Sports Center in Manhattan.

In front of a Tear It Up! crowd of 386, the Violets (1-7), currently ranked #10 in the Bison/AVCA Division III Men's Coaches Top 15 Poll, came out quickly against the third-ranked Eagles (2-2). After trading points with Juniata early on, NYU took a three-point lead at 14-11 after a service ace from senior captain Devin Zolnowski. Juniata slowly worked its way back to tie up the match again at 16 off of an NYU attack error. 

However, NYU was able to regain the lead. After a Juniata service error gave NYU back its three-point lead at 23-20, the Eagles went on a run, regaining a 24-23 lead off of a third consecutive NYU attack error. A timeout by NYU was attempted to halt the run. However, Juniata continued to build its lead, taking a four-point advantage at 27-23. NYU came within one at 28-27 and 29-28, however it proved to be too little too late as the Eagles took the first set 30-28.

In the second set, Juniata came out firing, taking a four-point lead early on at 10-6. NYU took the next point off of a kill from sophomore Fran Hodgson. However, that would be as close as the Violets would come for the rest of the set. The Eagles steadily built their lead throughout the set and NYU timeouts at 14-9 and 20-11 could not slow them down as Juniata took the set 30-14.

The third set saw the Violets regain the passion that they showed at the beginning of the match.  The Violets took a 9-8 lead off a kill from Zolnowski. The two teams then traded points through a 13-13 tie. However, Juniata took the lead off of a kill on the next point, which was followed by three straight NYU attack errors which forced a Violets' timeout.

A Juniata service error at 18-14 halted the five-point run. However, the damage was already done. The Violets could not pull within four the rest of the set as the Eagles won it 30-22.

On offense, Zolnowski continued to put up impressive numbers, notching a match-high 19 kills while hitting .316.

Hodgson also hit .316 on offense, as he put down nine kills.

Along the back line, freshman Jay Hayes continued his strong play, recording a team-high nine digs while passing a perfect 29 for 29.

For the Eagles, senior Dan Powers put down 11 kills and hit a match-high .688 while junior Anthony Damiano led all players with 10 digs.

The Violets return to the court Tuesday night, Feb. 3, when they host fifth-ranked Vassar College at Coles. First serve is set for 7:00 pm.