The New York University men's volleyball team defeated the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in three sets in the opening round of the United Volleyball Conference (UVC) Championship on Friday, April 12. Stevens Institute of Technology is hosting the tournament at Caldwell University in Caldwell, NJ.

The Violets (13-10), seeded #4 in the six-team tournament won the match by scores of 25-14, 25-21, 25-23. The Engineers, the #5 seed, finish their season with a 23-9 record.  

NYU also won the regular-season meeting between the two team in straight sets on February 8.

Friday's first set opened with consecutive kills by Neil Ferraro, and the Violets led the entire way. NYU went ahead by as many as 10 points before recording the nine-point victory.

The second set was much closer as it featured 14 ties. With the set knotted at 18-18, consecutive kills by Evan Lindley and James Haag gave the Violets a lead they would never relinquish en route to the four-point win.  

The Violets fell behind by as many as three points in the final set. NYU rallied to take a four-point lead, but the Engineers put together their own streak and tied the match at 22-22. But kills by Lindley and Haag gave the Violets some breathing room and an MIT service error finally ended the set and match. 

"The key was that we kept our intensity through all three sets," said Head Coach Jose Pina. "Our serving and hitting were excellent today, which are the keys in men's volleyball.

"The fact that we were able to make it a three-set match allows us to be less physically spent after having been involved in so many five-setters this season," Pina continued. "It also helps with the nagging injuries we've had." 

Haag and Lindley each finished with nine kills, hitting .562 and .333, respectively. Tyler Flood (.500) and Alex Li (.400) both had eight kills.

Matin Bikdeli finished with 32 assists and Connor Keowen had a team-best 13 digs.
 
The Violets will now face top-seeded Stevens on Saturday in the semifinals, also at Caldwell. First serve is set for 2:30pm.

The two teams split their two matches this season.

"Our stats against Stevens have been similar in every category over the past several times we've played them. We match up really well," Pina explained. "So, I believe the team with the least amount of hitting errors will have the advantage. We need to force them into errors, which is the same as they will try to do to us."