Gautham Dasari went off for a career-high 29 kills despite New York University's seventh-ranked men's volleyball team falling in a five-set United Volleyball Conference (UVC) match to MIT on Saturday at the Brooklyn Athletic Facility.

It was the Violets' final home match of 2023 and NYU honored graduating seniors Dasari, Ryan Li and Kyle Rasmussen in a pregame Senior Day Ceremony.

Today was also the final day of the UVC regular season as NYU finished with a 2-4 league record to claim the sixth seed in the upcoming conference tournament.

The Violets won the first two sets, both 25-21, but MIT stormed back to take the next two and force a fifth. Set five was an intense, back-and-forth affair with Dasari and MIT's Nick Gustafson practically going kill-for-kill until the Engineers eeked out a win.

"The fact that we didn't come out with a win is sad for the seniors. The effort was there, we just did not convert in the last two games," said head coach José Piña. "We had a lot of difficulty stopping their right side, Gustafson. They also had a lot of difficulty stopping our right side; Guatham had a tremendous game with 29 kills, a career high, outstanding game and the most kills in an NYU match in years."

Set one was close until the Violets, while leading 17-15, went on a 6-1 run capped off by a Dasari kill to take control and win the opener.

NYU led by two (22-20) late in the second set as well and kills from Luke Boyer, Ry Kagan and Robert Allen pushed the Violets to another victory.

Back-and-forth play continued in the third as the score became knotted at 24-24 down the stretch. However, MIT's Troy Oliveira posted back-to-back kills to keep the Engineers alive.

MIT carried this momentum into the fourth, establishing a 20-13 advantage and cruising to force a decider.

Neither side led by more than two points in the fifth while Dasari posted nine kills in the frame to Gustafson's eight, including a stretch of six points for each team in which the pair traded consecutive kills. MIT came away with a 20-18 victory, however, to end the battle which had the Brooklyn Athletic Facility on its feet.

"Our game wasn't as strong on the serving side again, we had another match in which we didn't serve as well as we could have," Piña added. "Our 22 serving errors to their 11 was the big difference in this match. We now get ready for the UVC tournament...we have to continue working and making sure we cut down our own mistakes. If we do that, we play extremely competitively and at a high level."

Dasari hit .426 and added six digs, two assists and a block to his career day. Allen and Boyer posted seven kills each while Li and Rasmussen added six apiece. Li also finished with a career-high 52 assists, six total blocks and two aces.

NYU's libero Zach Knudsen brought up a match-high 18 digs to anchor the Violets' defense.

The men's volleyball team concludes its 2023 regular season at fourth-ranked Springfield College in a non-conference affair on Tuesday, April 11, in Springfield, MA, before UVC tournament action begins three days later.