The New York University men's volleyball team opened its home season with a 3-0 victory over Baruch College on Thursday, February 8, at the Sportsplex in Manhattan.

The Violets, ranked #6 in the nation by the American Volleyball Coaches Association (AVCA), captured the sets by scores of 25-16, 25-12 and 25-21.

NYU raised its season record to 5-2, while Baruch fell to 3-6.

The Violets never trailed in the opening set and raced out to a 5-1 lead. The Bearcats did pull within one, 7-6. At that point, NYU went on a 10-3 run and never led by less than five the rest of the set en route to the nine-point victory.

Baruch took its first lead of the match in the second set, scoring the first three points. But, NYU used a 4-0 run to break a 5-5 tie and was able to hold the lead the rest of the way. The advantage grew as high as 13 points on several occasions, including at the end of the set.

The Bearcats again took an early lead in the final set. However, with the scored tied 8-8, the Violets scored three straight points and never relinquished the lead. NYU led by as many as six points before clinching the match with the four-point win.

"It was an excellent hitting performance by our team," said Head Coach Jose Pina.

Overall, the Violets hit .403 for the match, committing only 13 errors on their 72 attempts.  

AT THE NET:

- It was a well-balanced attack at the net for NYU, as both Andrew Zhu and Neil Ferraro finished with nine kills, while Evan Lindley had eight and Alex Li added seven.  

- Matin Bikdeli provided a match-high 29 assists for the Violets.

- Connor Keowen led the way with nine digs.

- Stephen Roach had a match-high 11 kills for Baruch.

The Violets return to action on Wednesday, February 14, when they host Stevens Institute of Technology at the Sportsplex. First serve is set for 8:00pm.