NYU vs. Washington Box Score
NYU vs. Case Western Box Score
The New York University women's volleyball team split its matches on Saturday, November 6, at the University Athletic Association (UAA) Volleyball Championship to finish third, its best finish in the UAA since 2006, on the campus of Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland, OH.
"It was a good day and a great weekend for us," commented interim head coach Chris Pinto. "Even though the loss to WashU was disappointing I'm proud of this team for rebounding to pull off the third-place finish in the UAA. It's something that hasn't been done by this program in a few years and all of the girls are really excited to be a part of it."
The Violets (35-5, 9-2 UAA), currently ranked #15 in the AVCA Division III Coaches Top 25 Poll, opened the day by falling to #1-ranked Washington University Bears (31-2, 8-2 UAA) in the final match of Pool B play 3-0 (25-14, 25-21, 25-19).
Leading the Violets on offense in the match was Kendyl Dunn, who had a team-high 10 kills and hit .333 with two blocks.
On defense, Erin McLaughlin led NYU with nine digs and a team-high three blocks including a solo.
For the Bears, Lauren Budde led with 12 kills and four blocks. Ali Hoffman and Kelly Pang both added 16 digs.
In the final match of the weekend, the Violets edged out host Case Western (24-10, 5-5 UAA) by a 3-1 (25-14, 25-21, 23-25, 25-20) margin to secure its first third-place finish in the UAA in four years. With the win, the Violets posted their most UAA victories since 2005 and the most wins overall since 2005.
Sally Downs led a powerful Violets attack that saw all five hitters reach double-digit kills. She totaled 16 along with a career-best nine blocks.
Dunn and Jessica Prepolec both added 14 kills to the attack. Dunn also hit a team-best .300 and put back two solo blocks, while Prepolec notched four blocks including a solo.
Rounding out the five hitters, Beth Fionda and McLaughlin both tallied 10 kills. Fionda also put back five blocks in the win while McLaughlin recorded her 10th double-double of the season by putting up 16 digs.
On defense, three more Violets put up double-digits digs. Rachel Sawyer, Alexis Schwartz and Mina Baban all had 17. Baban added set 56 assists, bringing her career-best season-total to 1,420 and moving her into fourth-place on the NYU single-season rally-scoring assists list.
For the Spartans, Tricia McCutchan recorded a match-high 19 kills while Breana Freeman added 25 digs.
The Violets will now await word from the NCAA on whether they will receive a Pool C at-large bid into the NCAA Division III Women's Volleyball Championship. The selection show will be aired on the NCAA website (www.ncaa.com) at 11:00 am Monday morning.
