The regular-season started strong, continued strong, and ended even stronger.
The New York University Women's Volleyball Team is University Athletic Association (UAA) Champions for the first time.
The Violets, after going through a near-perfect (26-1) regular season, defeated Emory University in four sets (23-25, 25-15, 25-23, 25-20) on Saturday, November 6, to claim the UAA title and an automatic bid to the NCAA Division III Championship Tournament.
"Today was such an exciting day to be part of NYU Volleyball and the University," said Head Coach
Andrew Brown. "Our players were so confident in themselves and their teammates."
NYU entered the UAA Championship as the #1 seed, and after beating #8 University of Rochester and #5 Carnegie Mellon University on Friday, the Violets had to get through #2 Emory on Saturday to get where they wanted to go.
The Eagles (23-5) took the first set, snapping a 22-22 tie with consecutive points and holding on for the win.
"We had to make adjustments to get back in the match after that, and I think the players did a good job of playing our way back," Brown explained.
The Violets fell behind again early in the set second, 6-2. Still trailing 12-10, NYU went on an 11-1 run en route to tying up the match.
In the pivotal third set, the score was tied 19-19 when a pair of attack errors by Emory put NYU in the lead to stay.
In the clinching set, a 4-0 NYU run erased a 3-2 deficit as the Violets took the lead for good. The 25th and final point was recorded on another Emory attack error.
Game, set, match.
"Today was the ultimate team effort," said senior
Gretchen Kincade (Franklin Lakes, NJ/Ramapo). "Every single person was locked in to achieve our goal of taking home the championship. Everyone put a lot of heart into every single point. It was an honor to be able to take home this victory with the team after putting in so much work all season."
Abby Ausmus (San Diego, CA/La Jolla Country Day School) and
Haley Holz (Palatine, IL/Palatine) each finished with 11 kills, while
Olivia Lewandowski (San Diego, CA/Del Norte) had 10. Lindsay Hirano led with 20 digs and
Nicole Dao (Bethesda, MD/The Academy of Holy Cross) had a team-high 29 assists.
"I am in awe every time I get the chance to compete with this team. Day in and day out we have united behind the goal of winning the championship title," Dao said. "We continually play better volleyball, and I am so proud of teammates for putting in the work from day one for us to get this far."
NYU had not been to the UAA Championship Match since 2003. They now return to the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 2013.
"Tons of respect to Emory. They are a great team and led by strong coaches," Brown added. "Our players today executed the game plan to a 'T' and made all the adjustments at the right time to keep the pressure on Emory. This win goes to each every member of our team for their countless sacrifices and dedication to the team and their academic excellence. This moment wouldn't have come to fruition without the seven amazing seniors we have and how they've led our program from day one of their freshman year.
"Now we shift our focus to the NCAA Tournament."
NYU's NCAA Tournament opponent will be revealed on Monday.
