Gautham Dasari led the way with a career-high-tying 16 kills for the New York University men's volleyball team as the Violets (8-7) downed St. Joseph's College-Long Island, 3-1, in Patchogue on Tuesday night.

NYU bounced back after a stretch of four consecutive losses, defeating the Golden Eagles 25-21, 21-25, 25-21, 27-25. The Violets hit .316 on the night, their third best mark of the season, as four players recorded at least seven kills in the win.

"Hard earned win by the young men," said Head Coach José Piña. "It was a gritty, emotional performance and the type of play we needed to beat a strong St. Joe's team.

"We had been playing better over the past two matches against top 10 teams. We didn't beat those teams, but I thought the squad was heading in the right direction and the wins would come."

The Violets opened the match with a quick 3-1 lead but went down 8-6 soon after. Dasari delivered back-to-back kills to tie the score, sparking a 7-1 run to put NYU ahead by four (13-9). SJCLI drew even with the Violets five times over the middle of the set, but never took the lead, as NYU closed with four straight points to go up 1-0.

St. Joseph's (12-3) controlled the second, totaling 15 kills to the Violets' eight and holding NYU to .087 hitting. The hosts never trailed after the first point and tied the match with a 25-21 victory.

The third set was back-and-forth throughout as neither side led by more than three until NYU broke the gridlock with a 4-1 spurt to end the frame and take a 2-1 edge overall.

Even play continued in the fourth, leading to a tiebreaker that Dasari finished off with one of his five kills in the set.

"Gautham Dasari, Tyler Flood and Matthew Noel had very strong hitting performances," Piña added. "Ryan Whealen had an excellent all-around match running the offense, blocking and playing floor defense."

BOX SCORE BREAKDOWN

• Dasari hit .438 on the way to his team high in kills and played strong defense, finishing with nine digs.
• Haag totaled eight kills, 11 digs and five total blocks (three solo).
• Flood was dominant at the net as well, notching four solo blocks (five total) with nine kills at a .571 clip.
• Both Whealen (36 assists) and Noel (seven kills) had four blocks as NYU set a new season high in the category (17.0).
• Three Golden Eagles recorded at least 13 kills as Mark Jensen finished with the match high (20).

NEXT UP
The Violets will look to avenge their five-set loss to Stevens last month when they travel to Hoboken this Friday, March 11, for an 8:00 pm first serve.