Haley Holz earned MVP honors as she, Gabriella Spaethling and Lindsey Hirano were named to the NYU Invitational All-Tournament Team after leading New York University's women's volleyball squad to a pair of sweeps on Saturday.

Playing at the Brooklyn Athletic Facility, the Violets welcomed Amherst College, DeSales University and Wheaton College (MA) to New York City for the Invitational. NYU swept Wheaton on Friday night before blanking both DeSales and Amherst this afternoon.

"It was a great home opening weekend where we got to display our NYU brand of volleyball with a clean sweep," said Head Coach Andrew Brown. "Everyone has been working so hard this season to put our team in a great position going into UAAs. Our upperclassmen really came out strong and are showing their leadership both on and off the court."

NYU 3, DeSales 0 (25-15, 25-10, 25-20)

The first set began as a back-and-forth affair as the score became tied at 11 after a kill from Leela Anvekar. That point kicked off a 10-0 run for NYU as the Violets took the frame 25-15, capped off by an Eveliena Pasmooij kill.

NYU ran away with the second set, featuring a stretch of five straight aces from Holz. The Violets won 25-10 after holding DeSales to a -.056 hitting percentage.

The Bulldogs came to life a bit in the third, jumping out to a 4-0 advantage. DeSales eventually went up 10-6, but the Violets responded with a 12-3 spurt to jump on top 18-13. The visitors came within two points multiple times, but NYU shut the door with another Holz kill to complete the sweep.

Holz finished with match highs of 11 kills and five aces while rookie Jessica Spierenburg contributed five kills of her own. Nicole Dao notched a team-high 12 assists, along with three aces, and Hirano recorded a match-high 16 digs.

NYU 3, Amherst 0 (25-13, 25-23, 25-20)

The Violets controlled the first set, using six unanswered points to go up 16-7 and didn't look back from there.

However, the second and third stanzas were well contested throughout. NYU led by four early in the second but, once the Mammoths tied the score at eight, neither side led by more than two. Late in the frame, with the score tied at 23, Olivia Lewandowski slammed a kill before an Amherst error put the Violets up 2-0 in games.

NYU compiled a whopping 18 kills in the third set to complete the sweep, hitting .273 while limiting the Mammoths to a .196 clip.

Holz continued her stellar play, delivering 12 kills, seven digs and three aces. She's recorded double-digit kills in six straight matches.

Spaethling finished with eight kills, Lewandowski seven and Taylor Odum six. Dominique Drust secured a double-double, handing out 18 assists along with 10 digs. 

Lindsey Hirano brought up 19 digs to continue her streak of 10-plus digs in every match this year.

Next Up

The Violets begin University Athletic Association (UAA) play next, heading to St. Louis, MO, for UAA Round Robin #1. NYU will play host WashU and Brandeis University on Saturday, September 17, to open the Round Robin.