New York University's 10th-ranked women's volleyball team swept both of its matches on Saturday, October 14, as part of the NYU October Showdown at the John A. Paulson Center in Manhattan.

The Violets defeated Rowan University early in the day before picking up an impressive straight-set win over 18th-ranked North Park University in the evening. NYU is now 18-4 on the year with nine regular-season matches remaining.

Senior Haley Holz had 25 kills on the day while her second kill against North Park brought her to 1,332 for her career, the third-highest in program history.

"Today's matches were a pivotal moment of our season," said head coach Andrew Brown. "Our team did a great job of looking inward and finding those "why's" of our NYU volleyball style of play. We were locked in on defense with grit and took big offensive risks which were rewarded."

Rowan scored the first two points of the day's opening set, but NYU responded with four unanswered and didn't trail again from there. The Violets recorded 16 kills in the first set on .375 hitting en route to a 25-20 victory.

The second set was close throughout as Rowan held and early lead and NYU never led by more than five. The Profs came within one late, 22-21, but the Violets scored the next three points as a Chloe Hum ace gave them a 25-21 win.

Brown rotated the squad a bit in the third set which led to a back-and-forth battle, but NYU closed the frame on a 3-1 run with an ace from rookie Alden Roberts completing the 25-21 triumph and sweep.

Eleven different Violets recorded at least one kill in the win, led by Holz's match-high-tying 13, while Camille Nazor finished with nine and Ella Weider had seven.

Ava Launsbach notched a 23-assist, 11-dig double-double, Dominique Drust had 12 assists and Lindsey Hirano posted a match-high 15 digs.

Against North Park, the Violets had zero attack errors in the first set for a match-high .385 hitting percentage. The visitors, however, committed eight errors as NYU led by as much as 18-6 and eventually claimed a 25-13 victory.

The Vikings got out to a 5-4 lead early in the second, but from there NYU mounted six consecutive points and remained ahead for the rest of the set. The 25-19 win was capped off by back-to-back Viking errors as NYU looked poised for a sweep.

Set three began with North Park in control, however, as the Vikings established a 12-5 lead thanks to a 6-0 spurt of their own. Brown called timeout and the Violets reset, jumping out to a 9-1 run to take back momentum and the lead. A Weider kill later sealed the 25-19 win as NYU came away with a top-25 victory at home.

"The final set was a real gut check that we can battle adversity, stay confident and build off of momentum one point at a time," Brown added. "I'm really proud of everyone and how we lead as a collective with the effort we displayed on the court this evening."

Holz had a match-high 12 kills with eight digs, Nazor contributed seven kills and Grace Nelson added six. 

Lausbach notched another double-double, this time with 18 assists and 10 digs, while Drust had 10 assists and Hirano again finished with 15 digs.

The Violets return to action next Sunday, October 22, with the final University Athletic Association (UAA) Round Robin of 2023. NYU takes on the University of Chicago and Carnegie Mellon University in Waltham, MA.