The New York University men's volleyball team had its six-match winning streak snapped by host Rutgers University-Newark on Thursday, April 5, in Newark, NJ.
The Violets fell to the Scarlet Raiders in five sets (25-23, 21-25, 25-20, 21-25, 15-11). Thursday's match was the final contest of the regular-season for 11th-ranked NYU, which will head into next weekend's United Volleyball Conference (UVC) Tournament with a 15-8 overall record. Rutgers-Newark improved to 18-8 this season with the victory.
The Violets started slowly in the first set, falling behind 6-2. Although they pulled into a 15-15 tie, they never led in dropping set one. The Violets rebounded in the second set as they took a 24-18 lead and held on to even the match.
After tying the third set at 6-6, the Violets dropped the next point and trailed the rest of the way. However, NYU evened the match at two sets apiece after closing set four on a 7-1 run after trailing 20-18.
But, the Scarlet Raiders defended their home court in set five and were able to clinch the match.
Alex Li led all players with 30 kills while adding seven digs.
Neil Ferraro contributed 16 kills and three blocks.
NOTABLES:
-
Connor Keowen recorded nine digs, while
Evan Lindley,
Matin Bikdeli and
Andrew Zhu added seven apiece.
- Bikdeli contributed a match-high 55 assists.
- Lindley added eight kills and three service aces.
The Violets will return to action on Friday, April 13, when they take on Elmira College in the first round of the UVC Tournament at 5pm. Stevens Institute of Technology, the tournament's top seed, is hosting the three-day event at the Hunter Sportsplex in Manhattan.
