Women's Volleyball Finishes Third at Nazareth Golden Flyer Invitational

Violets Go 3-1 and Improve to 8-1 in 2009

Sophomore Mina Baban was named to the All-Tournament Team.

The New York University women's volleyball team survived a scare by host Nazareth College on Satturday, Sept. 12, to win in four sets and finish in third place at the Golden Flyer Invitational in Rochester, NY.

The Violets (8-1) dropped the first set to the Golden Flyers (4-5), but rallied to win the next three and secure third place with a 3-1 (26-28, 25-21, 25-23, 25-20) victory.

“We are very happy with the progress our team is making,” said head coach Ed Caesar, summing up the weekend. “The wins over Fredonia and New Paltz were especially great for us because they were both NCAA Tournament teams a year ago. It was also great to get a chance to play an experienced team like Heidelberg. Hopefully. we can take that loss and learn from it.”

Leading NYU was setter and All-Tournament Team member Mina Baban. The sophomore tallied 41 assists, five kills and eight digs against Nazareth and finished the weekend with 146 assists and 38 digs.

Joining Baban on the All-Tournament Team was sophomore Kolby Warren, who finished with 32 kills and eight blocks for the weekend.

Continuing her overpowering play at the net, freshman Kendyl Dunn led the Violets with 14 kills and a career-best nine blocks. For the weekend, she once again led the team by tallying 47 kills and 14 blocks.

Also recording double-digit kills were sophomore captain Elizabeth Dick and freshman Natalie Fernandez. Dick notched 13 kills along with 16 digs for her second double-double of the season, while Fernandez put down 11 kills and notched four blocks.

On the defensive side of the ball, junior Rachel Sawyer continued to put up big numbers by tallying 18 digs against Nazareth and raising her total to 78 for the weekend.

For the Golden Flyers, senior Katelynn Reed recorded 13 kills while fellow senior Mallorie Clary put up a match-high 25 digs.

In the first match of the day, NYU fell in four sets to 2008 NCAA-qualifier Heidelberg College.

The Violets came out strong in the first set against the Berg (7-2). However, Heidelberg's experience prevailed as the team took the match 3-1 (20-25, 25-18, 25-13, 25-20).

On offense, Dunn and Fernandez both tallied a team-high 10 kills while Dunn also added three blocks.

Along the back line, Dick put up a team-high 15 digs to go along with six kills.

Also putting up big numbers on defense were Sawyer and freshman Alexis Schwartz, who both recorded 13 digs.

Baban continued to put up big numbers from the setter position, notching a double-double with 26 assists and 10 digs.

For the Berg, freshman Jacki Street notched 10 kills and hit .476 while junior Brittany Donelan recorded a match-high 18 digs.

The Violets return to action next weekend when they return to upstate New York to take part in the annual Rochester Institute of Technology Invitational. The Violets will take on SUNY Oneonta and St. John Fisher College in pool play on Friday.