The New York University men's volleyball team, ranked #8 by the American Volleyball Coaches Association (AVCA), picked up a pair of five-set victories at its first United Volleyball Conference (UVC) Crossover of the season on Saturday, February 13, in Elmira, NY. NYU defeated the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and #8 Elmira College.
"It was a very gutty performance by the squad," said NYU Head Coach Jose Pina. "We played two good conference teams away from home, persevered through two five-set matches and came away with a pair of well-earned victories."
The Violets (5-5, 2-0 UVC) began with a five-set comeback victory (25-17, 22-25, 21-25, 25-23, 15-10) over the Engineers (11-4, 1-2 UVC).
After winning the first set, NYU dropped the second two and fell behind 2-1. The Violets went on to win the final two sets to come away with the victory in their UVC opener.
"We made some defensive adjustments prior to the fourth set which put us in a better position for the win," continued Pina. "We moved our block and floor defense, which made MIT more predictable. We also had five guys with at least 10 points."
Nick Benson and
Chase Klein led NYU once again as the outside hitters finished with 17 and 15 kills, respectively. The duo also notched two blocks and six digs apiece.
Derrick Chiu had quite the match, as well, as the junior setter dished out a match- and career-best 57 assists.
NYU followed that up with another 3-2 win (17-25, 25-23, 31-33, 25-19, 15-13), this time over the host Soaring Eagles (8-4, 0-2 UVC).
"The guys were still pretty tired from the MIT match, but they were able to summon the energy needed to pull out another exciting five-set win," Pina said. "In the final two sets, we outplayed them in both kills and digs, and that allowed us to come out with the win."
The Violets fell behind early in the first set, 13-4, and were never able to recover. The second set went their way, though, and the squads went into the third tied at one apiece. NYU led 23-20 and then again at 24-22 with a chance to win the set and take a 2-1 advantage, but Elmira took the next two points to force the third into extras.
The teams traded multiple leads before the Violets jumped ahead 31-30. The Soaring Eagles won the next three points, however, to take the set 33-31. NYU was able to swing the momentum back in its direction and won the fourth set to force a decisive fifth, which it also won 15-13.
Benson led the way offensively once more and notched a match-best 20 kills.
Benjamin Oxnard also had a nice match and tied his career high with a match-best 16 digs.
Chase Corbett was one of the main contributors for the Violets, as well. The sophomore middle hitter registered a match-best nine blocks (tying a career high) and added 10 kills.
HIGHLIGHTS vs. MIT:- Oxnard led all players with 12 digs.
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Colin LaPorte chipped in 13 kills, six digs and two blocks.
- Corbett registered a match-best five blocks and added eight kills and two digs.
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Sean Leahy finished with seven kills and four blocks.
HIGHLIGHTS vs. ELMIRA:- Klein finished with 13 kills, five blocks and five digs.
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Phil Bueno had nine digs, eight kills and two blocks.
- Chiu led NYU with 49 assists. He also added five digs, four blocks and a pair of kills.
"Derrick had a steady hand in running the offense and deserves a lot of credit for our wins today," said Pina.
NYU will return to action on Wednesday night, February 17, when the Violets travel across the Hudson River to Hoboken, NJ, for a 7:00 pm match against #6 Stevens Institute of Technology.
