Men's Volleyball Falls to Rutgers-Newark at Coles in Straight Sets

Michael Ferragonio tallied 11 kills while hitting .421 against Rutger-Newark.

Despite holding a 12-6 blocking advantage, the New York University men's volleyball team fell in straight sets to Division I and EIVA Hay rival Rutgers-Newark on Wednesday, Mar. 11, at the Coles Sports Center in Manhattan.

The Violets (3-14, 2-2 EIVA Hay), currently ranked #10 in the Bison/AVCA Division III Men's Coaches Top 15 Poll, stayed close with the Scarlet Raiders (7-8, 5-1 EIVA Hay) in all three sets. However, NYU could not manage to get over the hump, falling 3-0 (30-28, 30-27, 30-27), dropping their division record to 2-2 on the season.

In the first set, the Scarlet Raiders jumped out to a quick lead early on and built it to as much as seven at 19-12 going into the second of two NYU timeouts.

Coming out of the stoppage, the Violets showed some life, putting together a 14-8 as a kill from junior Michael Ferragonio force Rutgers-Newark to take a timeout at 27-26.

On the next play junior Nate Stott put down a kill, giving the Scarlet Raiders back a two-point cushion. That would be all that Rutgers-Newark would need as they took the set 30-28.

The second set followed the same pattern as the first. The Scarlet Raiders again jumped out to a quick lead and building on it with their biggest lead being seven at 24-17.

Once again the Violets rallied. After falling behind 28-22, NYU took the next five of six points to come within two at 27-29. However, it was too little too late as Rutgers-Newark tallied a kill on the next play to take the set 30-27.

In the third set the Violets did not allow the Scarlet Raiders to jump ahead early. Instead, NYU took a three-point lead of their own at 12-9. The Violets managed to hold their lead until a kill from Stott tied the set at 15.

The two teams would trade points until back-to-back NYU errors gave Rutgers-Newark a 23-20 lead. From that point on the Scarlet Raiders would not trail. The Violets again managed to pull within two at 29-27, forcing a Rutgers-Newark timeout. However, a service error on the next play sealed the match at 30-27.

Senior captain Devin Zolnowski tallied a match-high 17 kills for the Violets while also hitting .414 with four blocks and four digs.

Ferragonio was also in double-digits, putting down 11 kills while hitting a team-high .421.

Senior captain Ilan Goldstein put up a team-high six digs along with 27 assists in the first two sets.

For the Scarlet Raiders, Stott tallied a 16 kills and hit .591 while freshman Derek Wolfe and freshman Caden Mulligan both put up six digs on defense.

The Violets return to action this weekend when they will take part in the Carthage College Invitational in Kenosha, WI. NYU will take on University of California-Santa Cruz and Milwaukee School of Engineering on Friday and Carthage and Nazareth on Saturday. All four teams are currently ranked in the Division III Poll.