NYU vs. Mount St. Joseph Box Score
NYU vs. Carthage Box Score

The New York University men's volleyball team finished the first day of the 2010 Wisconsin Invitation with a 1-1 record after falling to host Carthage College in its evening match, Friday, March 19, at the Tarble Arena in Kenosha, WI.

The Violets (3-11), currently ranked #15 in the AVCA Division III Men's Coaches Top 15 Poll, were not able to counter the well-balanced Red Men (16-7) attack, falling 3-0 (30-24, 30-26, 30-19).

On offense, junior captain Fran Hodgson put together one of his best performances of the season, tallying 12 kills with a match-best .455 clip.  On defense, Hodgson added a team-best two blocks, including a solo.

On defense, freshman setter Trevor Salter led all players with a career-best 13 digs, while also putting up 31 assists.

For the Red Men, Tom O'Connell paced his team with 12 kills while Mike Bynon tacked on 12 digs.

In their first match of the day, the Violets defeated The College of Mount St. Joseph in three sets.

The Violets easily handled the Lions (0-15), holding them to only 14 kills and a negative hitting percentage as they pulled out the 3-0 (30-13, 30-14, 30-13) victory in just under one hour.

Overall, NYU held a 45-14 kill advantage, out-blocked Mount St. Joseph 9-2 and piled up 13 service aces to the Lions' zero.

Leading the charge on offense for the Violets was senior captain Michael Ferragonio, who tallied a match-high 13 kills along with two service aces.  On defense, Ferragonio added seven digs and a solo blocks.

Also putting up good numbers on offense was freshman George Koch who put down nine kills in two sets of play.

In the middle, freshman Ian Sykes and sophomore Jeff Lewis combined for 11 kills and a .526 on offense.  On defense at the net, Sykes put back a match-high five blocks while Lewis added a career-best two service aces .

Freshman Karl Johnson led all players with a career-high 11 digs on defense while also adding three blocks.  Johnson added to the onslaught on offense, putting down five kills with a .400 clip.

For the Lions, Daniel Holloway tallied eight kills and six digs to lead his squad.

The Violets return to action tomorrow when they take part in the second day of the Wisconsin Invitational.  NYU will begin the day in Kenosha where they will take on northeast-rival Nazareth College.  The team will then travel to Milwaukee for its final match against the Milwaukee School on Engineering.  Match times are set for 11:00 am and 4:00 pm central time.