On Monday, the New York University men's volleyball team, currently ranked #1 in the nation by the American Volleyball Coaches Association (AVCA), fell to North Central College in five sets at the Brooklyn Athletic Facility (BAF) in Brooklyn, NY.

NYU (12-2, 3-1) took sets two and three by scores of 25-21 and 25-18 respectively. North Central (10-6) took set one (25-18), four (25-17) and five (19-17). 

After falling behind as many as six points, 17-11, the Violets couldn't get any closer. 

The second set was a lot tighter as the teams traded leads on several occasions. With the score tied 14-14, a Tyler Flood (Corona del Mar, CA/Corona del Mar) kill handed NYU the lead for good. 

In the third set, the squads were locked evenly 11-11 when an Alex Li (Cupertino, CA/Monta Vista) kill sparked a 10-4 run for the Violets. They then went on to take the seven-point win. 

During the fourth set, North Central took an early 4-2 lead and never relinquished it. The visitors led by as many as 10 before taking the eight-point win. 

In the final set, the teams traded one-point advantages throughout. Finally, with the score tied 17-17, North Centrals' Justin Curtis and Ben Williams each tallied a kill and closed out the scoring for the day.

"We were hoping that this game would get us back on track," explained Head Coach Jose Pina. "We didn't play crisp and we missed a lot of serves which hurt us."

Overall, NYU hit .298 compared to North Central's .308.

Matin Bikdeli (Irvine, CA/University) led NYU with a game-high 51 assists. Evan Lindley (Evanston, IL/Evanston Township) and Li both led the Violets in kills with 14 each. 

"We need to be more aggressive with our serves moving forward," Pina added.

The Violets are right back in action this Saturday, March 7, when they travel to Elmira College. First serve in Elmira, NY, is set for 1:00pm.