The American Volleyball Coaches Association's Preseason Coaches Poll was released on January 13 and it took just nine days for its #1 squad to drop a match, coming at the hands of New York University's Men's Volleyball Team.

The #14 Violets (1-0) defeated #1 Carthage College (0-1) in four sets on Friday, January 21 at the Brooklyn Athletic Facility. NYU dropped the first 25-23 but won three-straight over the defending NCAA Division III champions to secure a victory in the 2022 season-opener.

"The upperclassmen feel that something was taken away from them," revealed Head Coach Jose Pina. "It just feels good, especially for those guys, because the main part of the group are guys who are very talented. They came back on a mission to regain the status that they thought they rightfully deserve."

A back-and-forth first saw Carthage eek out a 25-23 win after hitting .286 in the frame. The Violets were down early in the second, but scored four-straight points after trailing 7-5 to take a 9-7 edge. Then, another 4-0 spurt in the middle of the set, including back-to-back Violet blocks, grew the lead to 17-11 and NYU held on for a 25-21 win.

NYU ran out to a 10-3 lead in the third, capped off by a Ryan Whealen (Fenton, MO/St. Louis University HS) ace. The advantage grew to 18-7 after a Gautham Dasari (Cupertino, CA/Monta Vista) kill and the Violets didn't look back, hitting .389 in the frame en route to a 25-18 triumph.

Leading 8-5 in the fourth, NYU rattled off six unanswered points to essentially put the match away with a 14-5 edge. Seniors Tyler Flood (Corona del Mar, CA/Corona del Mar) and James Haag (Macungie, PA/Emmaus) notched back-to-back kills for the final two points (25-12) to complete the impressive, season-opening win on the team's home floor.

"I was really happy with the execution and am very proud of the guys," Pina added. "We have a very tough schedule, a tough road ahead. Our conference has six teams that are legit top-15 teams. That's what I like, it tests the guys and shows us who we really are."

Haag led the way with 12 kills (.526), seven digs and three aces. Dasari chipped in 10 kills, three digs, a block and an ace.

Owen Wahlgren (Downers Grove, IL/Downers Grove North), a senior transfer from the University of California-Irvine, added eight kills (.429), three total blocks and a pair of aces. Whealen kept the offense going all night, finishing with 34 assists, six digs, three kills and two total blocks.

NYU continues its extremely competitive non-conference schedule on Wednesday, January 26 hosting #2 Springfield College at 6:30 pm from the Brooklyn Athletic Facility.