The New York University men's volleyball team, ranked #15 by the American Volleyball Coaches Association (AVCA), picked up a pair of United Volleyball Conference (UVC) victories
over #7 Nazareth College and Bard College on Saturday, March 26, at the Brooklyn Athletic Facility in Brooklyn, NY.
NYU (12-11, 6-2 UVC) began with a four-set (25-17, 25-19, 20-25, 25-14) win over the Golden Flyers (22-8, 4-3), followed by a three-set sweep (25-14, 25-14, 25-20) of the Raptors (7-21, 0-8).
"We were very consistent throughout that first match," said NYU Head Coach Jose Pina. "The guys hit really well and were able to also convert at a high rate -- almost 40 percent -- off of our digs, which was really important. We also practiced all this week on serving and it paid off because we served really strong today."Nick Benson and
Chase Klein once again led the Violet attack in match one against Nazareth. The outside hitters combined for 27 kills with six errors on 48 swings. Benson hit .478, while Klein notched a .400 swinging percentage.
As a team, NYU forced the Golden Flyers into 16 attack errors and 15 serving errors.
"That's the type of team that we should be able to beat if we execute the entire match, and we did that today," continued Pina. "It was a good overall effort in a really important conference match, and hopefully it's a precursor of things to come."Against Bard, the Violets' reserves shined in the three-set win.
Colin LaPorte finished with a match-high 13 kills and three errors on 20 swings (.500 hitting percentage),
Jake Getz was also very efficient. The junior registered six kills on seven attempts and no errors to hit .857.
"I know that I'm going to get efficient, consistent play from our veteran guys," said Pina. "But getting the younger guys --
Ethan Talkov and
Brendan Duggan -- some significant time was very important."
Derrick Chiu was once again NYU's primary setter and he dished out a match-best 28 assists. The junior added a match-high 11 digs for his fifth double-double of the season.
HIGHLIGHTS vs. NAZARETH:- Benson finished with match highs in kills (14) and service aces (5), and tied the match best with seven digs.
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Phil Bueno and
Chase Corbett each registered eight kills. Corbett also had a .400 hitting percentage.
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Sean Leahy finished with seven kills and one error on 10 swings (.600 hitting percentage).
- Chiu notched a match-best 40 assists and six digs.
Benjamin Oxnard added six digs, as well.
HIGHLIGHTS vs. BARD:- Talkov contributed six kills on 10 swings with two errors (.400 hitting percentage). The rookie middle hitter added two blocks.
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Stephen Tan converted on all four of his attack attempts.
The Violets will return to the court on Tuesday night, March 29, when they face #5 Rutgers University-Newark on the road in Newark, NJ.
