The New York University men's volleyball team, ranked #10 in the latest American Volleyball Coaches Association (AVCA) Poll, fell to #9 SUNY New Paltz in four sets on Saturday, March 17, at The Sage Colleges in Albany NY.

The Violets (9-7, 2-4) had their two-match United Volleyball Conference (UVC) winning streak snapped by the Hawks, who are now 14-5 overall and 5-1 in the UVC.

NYU dropped the first two sets by identical 25-21 scores before taking set three 25-22. However, New Paltz rebounded to claim the final set by a score of 25-17.

The Hawks soared out of the gates in set one, opening a quick 5-1 lead which they never relinquished. The Violets recovered in set two and took a 3-0 lead, but five consecutive New Paltz kills propelled the Hawks to a second-set victory. 

NYU showed its resilience and claimed set three, and it was Alex Li who provided the decisive kill, his seventh of the set.

However, New Paltz used a 7-0 run in set four to extend a 13-10 lead en route to the clinching victory.

"It was a tough UVC loss to a strong New Paltz team," said Head Coach Jose Pina. "They won the serving game for the match and attacked extremely well from the right side and that made the difference." 

INSIDE THE BOX SCORE:

- Li led the Violets with 12 kills while adding six digs.

- Connor Keowen and Neil Ferraro contributed game-high totals of seven digs and five blocks, respectively.

- Evan Lindley (11 kills, four service aces) and Matin Bikdeli (30 assists, four digs) were also standout performers for NYU.

The Violets return to action tomorrow at 12:00 pm, when they take on the host Gators.