New York University's 15th-ranked men's volleyball team opened the 2023 season at top-ranked Carthage College on Friday night in Kenosha, WI, pushing the Firebirds to five sets in defeat. 

NYU played well despite the loss, falling by set scores of 20-25, 25-21, 14-25, 25-22, 11-15, featuring a career-high 17 kills from Lucas Osiecki on .300 hitting.

"It was a good first match to start the year," said head coach Jose Pina. "The young men showed a lot of heart and grit going against the two-time defending national champions and number one team in Division III.

"Although we didn't come out ahead, these young Violets showed their potential in a tough arena on the road. Lucas Osiecki, Ry Kagan and Zach Knudsen all had a very strong match while Gautham Dasari, Ryan Li and Kyle Rasmussen provided leadership to keep the team steady when Carthage was pressuring the squad."

The Violets fell behind 7-2 in the first but bounced back to make it 12-10 after Osiecki's lone kill of the opening frame. A 7-3 run from the Firebirds then created enough separation for them to close it out and secure a 1-0 match lead.

NYU led for most of the second set, bolstered by seven kills in the stanza from Osiecki and a pair of Dasari service aces. Carthage made it close late, but committed a pair of costly service errors to give NYU a 24-21 lead before Luke Boyer finished it off with a kill.

Thirteen Violet errors and a .467 hitting percentage in the third for Carthage allowed the hosts to cruise to an 11-point third set victory.

The Violets regained composure quickly as neither side led by more than three for the entirety of the fourth. But, with the score tied 20-20, four Firebird errors put NYU ahead 24-21 and then Rasmussen delivered the match-tying kill to force a fifth.

A close fifth set saw Carthage eek out a four-point win thanks to two aces and two blocks, as opposed to none from NYU, in the frame. The teams matched each other in kills and errors in the set as the Firebirds' net defense and serving game made the difference.

Osiecki added six digs to his career-high in kills while Dasari finished with 11 kills, six digs and three aces. 

Ryan Li also had a career high, delivering 43 assists on the night. Kagan and Buddy Cohen had seven kills apiece while Boyer added six kills and three aces.

Zach Knudsen posted a match-high 11 digs.

The Violets conclude their two-match midwest road trip with a stop at Aurora University tomorrow night, January 21 at 7:00 pm (central) in Aurora, IL.