The New York University men's volleyball team, ranked #4 in the nation by the American Volleyball Coaches Association (AVCA), lifted its record to 7-0 with a three-set victory over The Sage Colleges on Wednesday, February 12, at the Brooklyn Athletic Facility in Brooklyn, NY.

The final scores were 25-21, 25-13, 25-16.

The Gators (3-11) went ahead early in the first set and increased their advantage to three points, 13-10. The Violets managed to force a 19-19 tie and score the next three to pull ahead, 22-19. Sage scored two more, but NYU pulled ahead to win 25-21 off of a Matthew Noel (Rochester, NY/McQuaid Jesuit) Kill. 

NYU never trailed in the second set. The Violets led by 10 on a pair of occasions before Alex Li's (Cupertino, CA/Monta Vista) service ace a Sage error ended the set.

In the final set, NYU jumped ahead to an early 14-5 lead. The Violets went ahead by as many as 10 points before Kyle Rasmussen's (Oak Park, IL/Oak Park and RIver Forest) kill ended the match.

"It's just a continuation of us winning games," said Head Coach Jose Pina. "That's always our goal to win and to play at a good level."

Overall, the Violets won the battle at the net, hitting a proficient .408 compared to the Gators' .277.

"We hit well at a 40-percent clip while they hit at 28 perecnt," Pina acknowledged. "Overall, it was a really good offensive game."

Li led the Violets with 12 kills (.647), while Neil Farraro had nine. Matin Bikdeli (Irvine, CA/University) totaled a game-high 35 assists and Race Agcaoili (Honolulu, HI/Punahou School) had six digs. 

"We were able to play at the level that we should be playing at all season," concluded Pina. 

The Violets are back on the court Friday, February 14, when they host Nazareth College at 7:00pm in Brooklyn.