The New York University men's volleyball team was defeated in four sets by host Stevens Institute of Technology in the semifinals of the United Volleyball Conference (UVC) Championship at Caldwell University in Caldwell, NJ, on Saturday, April 13. 

The Violets (13-10) dropped the first set 25-17, but came back in the second to win 25-23. However, NYU could not sustain the momentum and lost the final two sets by scores 25-20 and 25-22.

NYU came into the tournament as the #4 seed, while Stevens (27-4) was seeded #1.

After the Ducks took the first set, the Violets fought back to even the match. NYU was ahead by only one, 14-13, but used a four-point run to create distance and never looked back.

In the pivotal third set, the Violets lost the lead early and never recovered.   

In the final set, NYU led by three points early, but Stevens used a five-point streak to take the lead. It was then tied at 10-10 when the Ducks recorded back-to-back points and the Violets never saw the lead again.

"It was a hard-fought match," said Head Coach Jose Pina. "It was typical of what our matches against them have been like for the past three years. It always comes down to which team has the higher hitting percentage and they won the battle this time."
 
The Ducks out-hit the Violets .317-.145. 

"They had a good plan for attacking our left side and we were not able to counter it this time," Pina explained.

Neil Ferraro and Evan Lindley each had 14 kills for NYU, while Tyler Flood added 11.

Matin Bikdeli had a team-best 41 assists, Connor Keowen and Lindley each had 10 digs.     

"Neil and Evan had strong matches," Pina added. "We now get ready for the 2020 season and say good-bye to our seniors (Brendan Duggan, Ethan Talkov)."