The New York University men's volleyball team won a matchup between top-10 teams in five sets (25-20, 15-25, 25-21, 14-25, 16-14) against visiting Stevens Institute of Technology on Wednesday, February 14, at the Sportsplex in Manhattan. 

Seventh-ranked NYU (6-2) rallied from a 12-7 deficit in the match-deciding fifth set to take down the second-ranked Ducks (9-3).

"Our guys showed a lot of character tonight," said NYU Head Coach Jose Pina. "When we were down late, I asked them to make some plays while staying aggressive and they did just that."

The Violets took the opening set 25-20, using an early 5-1 run to turn a 4-3 deficit into an 8-5 lead. From there, they controlled the set steadily, ultimately winning it on a Stevens service error.

Stevens answered in the second set, scoring four of the first five points to go ahead 4-1. The Ducks increased their lead to five, 10-5, before an NYU rally closed the margin to 10-8. The Ducks controlled the set from there, however, jumping out to a 17-10 advantage en route to the 25-15 second set win.

Set number three was back-and-forth early as the squads split the first 22 points and the score was tied at 11-11. NYU took control with a 10-2 run to go up 21-13 and held on to win the frame 25-21 and take a 2-1 lead in the match.

Stevens once again battled back from behind in dominating fashion, taking the fourth set 25-14. The Ducks didn't trail the entire set and scored the final five points, winning the frame on an NYU attack error.

Evan Lindley opened up the final set with a kill, but that would be the only time NYU led until the closing points as Stevens answered Lindley's kill with five of the next seven points to take a 5-3 lead. The Ducks increased their lead to five at 12-7, before the Violets rallied to close within one twice at 13-12 and 14-13. With the Ducks serving for match point, they committed an attack error and the Violets got a kill from Alex Li to take their second lead of the set at 15-14. Brendan Duggan served up the NYU match point and the Violets were able to force an attack error to take the set and clinch the match.

Wednesday's match was the fifth-consecutive five-set affair between the United Volleyball Conference rivals. 

"It's always a battle when we play them," added Pina. "It's something we come in expecting."

NOTABLES:

- Duggan served the final three points of the match after not playing at all until that point.

"Brendan has a funky serve," explained Pina. "We knew we could count on him to put them in a tough position and he did just that."

- Lindley (17), Li (15) and Neil Ferraro (12) all recorded double-digit kills for NYU.

- Ferraro finished with nine blocks, four of which were solo blocks.

- Matin Bikdeli and Stevens' setter Jacob Patterson each dished out a match-best 45 assists.

The Violets return to the court this weekend when they open up United Volleyball Conference (UVC) action against Vassar College and Massachusetts Institute of Technology, on Saturday (1:30pm) and Sunday (11:00am), respectively. Both matches will take place on a neutral court at Stevens in Hoboken, NJ.