Box Score vs. Chicago
Box Score vs. Washington

The New York University women's volleyball team dropped two matches on the final day of competition and finished in fourth place at the 2009 University Athletic Association (UAA) Volleyball Championship on Saturday at the University of Chicago. 

In the third-place match the Violets (28-8, 6-5 UAA) dropped a hard-fought battle to host Chicago (28-13, 7-4 UAA) in straight sets (26-24, 29-27, 25-19).

Despite holding late leads in both the first and second sets, the Violets could not hold off the Maroons even as they out-killed them 49- 45 and out-dug them 40-32.

Overall, the Violets improved by three wins over the 2008 season and moved from seventh place to fourth place in the UAA.

On offense, freshman Kendyl Dunn led the team with 13 kills and hit .391 with three blocks.

Also in double-digits on offense were freshman Natalie Fernandez and sophomore captain Elizabeth Dick, who both put down 10 kills. Fernandez added two blocks and Dick hit . 308 with four digs and a service ace.

On defense, freshman libero Alexis Schwartz was in double-digits with 11 digs.

For the Maroons, Isis Smalls tallied 15 kills and hit .429, while Samantha Brown added 10 digs.

To begin the day, the Violets fell to nationally-ranked (#3) Washington University in straight sets in the final match of Pool A play.

With the 3-0 (25-13, 25-17, 25-14) loss, the Violets fell to 2-1 in Pool A while the Bears (28-3, 10-0 UAA) moved to 3-0 in Pool A and played for the UAA crown against Emory University.

Leading the Violets on offense and defense was Dick, who tallied a team-high eight kills and hit .348 with 12 digs.

For the Bears, Erin Albers recorded 13 kills while Kelly Pang added 16 digs.

The Violets now await word from the NCAA on whether they will receive one of 19 at-large bids to the NCAA Championship.  The tournament selection show can be viewed at NCAA.com at 11:00 eastern time on Monday.  

NCAA Tournament Selection Show