The New York University men's volleyball team won its third match in three days to open the 2020 season. The Violets, currently ranked #13 in the nation by the American Volleyball Coaches Association, defeated #8 University of California, Santa Cruz (UCSC) in five sets on Sunday, January 19, in Thousand Oaks, CA.

After winning its first two matches in straight sets, the Violets (3-0) were stretched to five by the Banana Slugs (5-4). UCSC won the first and third sets, with NYU taking the second, fourth and fifth. The scores were 22-25, 25-18, 23-25, 25-19, 15-10.

NYU trailed 9-8 in the final set, but scored the next five points to take the lead and clinch the victory.

"Another strong team effort by our players," aid Head Coach Jose Pina. "They showed a lot of character in coming from behind against a tough UC Santa Cruz team, who had us on the ropes early in the match and was up on us at the side change in game five."

Overall, the Violets hit at a .317 clip for the match, while the Banana Slugs were held to .197.

"We were able to win all the statistical categories today, but struggled a bit on free balls and over passes," Pina revealed. "Once we fix this, we'll be a much stronger squad."

Neil Ferraro (Newton, MA/Xaverian Brothers) and Evan Lindley (Evanston, IL/Evanston Township) paced NYU with 14 kills each, while Alex Li (Cupertino, CA/Monta Vista) had 13 and Tyler Flood (Corona del Mar, CA/Corona del Mar) added 11. Flood led the way with a .588 hitting percentage with Ferraro right behind at .522. Lindley also contributed five service aces and nine digs.

Matin Bikdeli (Irvine, CA/University) registered a career-high 51 assists in setting up the NYU attack. Connor Keowen (San Ramon, CA/California) led the Violets with 13 digs.     

"Individually, Tyler Flood (Corona del Mar, CA/Corona del Mar) had an outstanding hitting game, while the senior trio of Ferraro, Li and Lindley were once again terminal at the net," Pina added.

The Violets return to action this Thursday, January 23, when they travel to Glenside, PA, for a match against Arcadia University. First serve is set for 7:00pm.