New York University's women's volleyball team is ranked fourth in the nation in the AVCA (American Volleyball Coaches Association)/TARAFLEX Division III Preseason Poll.
Sixth-year head coach
Andrew Brown's Violets were also ranked fourth in the final poll of 2022 after reaching the Final Four of last year's NCAA Tournament. NYU is the two-time defending University Athletic Association (UAA) women's volleyball regular season champion and won the UAA Championship Tournament in 2021. Brown was recognized last fall with AVCA Region 4 Coach of the Year honors.
The Violets posted a 29-7 overall record (6-1 UAA) last season, including a 10-match win streak in October. They went on to defeat Westfield State University, Salisbury University, Williams College and Transylvania University in NCAA Tournament play before falling to Trinity University (TX) in the national semifinals.
A trio of returning AVCA All-Americans highlight NYU's 2023 roster: senior outside hitter
Haley Holz, junior libero
Lindsey Hirano and junior middle blocker
Leela Anvekar. All three were named to the AVCA All-Region 4 Team while Holz and Hirano were also First Team All-UAA honorees last year and Anvekar landed on the Second Team.
Holz, also boasting 2022 AVCA Region 4 Player of the Year status, recorded double-digit kills in 28 of her 36 appearances last season. The Illinois native led the UAA in kills per set (3.48) while ranking seventh in all of Division III in both total kills (470) and points (553.5). Holz is among NYU's top five all time in career kills (1,114), attack attempts (3,137), points (1,339.0) and points per set (3.87).
Hirano has her name etched in the program's record book after just two seasons. She broke the single-season total digs record by a wide margin with 807 as a sophomore and is already third on the all-time digs list (1,332). Hirano also holds the top two spots in single-season digs per set with 5.93 last year and 5.05 as a rookie. Her 34 digs against Wesleyan University (CT) in 2022 are also the fourth-most in a single game in program history.
Anvekar controlled the net throughout NYU's dominant campaign last season, leading the UAA and ranking second in the country in total blocks (146) with the second-highest single-season total ever for the Violets. Her 1.17 blocks per set also topped the league, ranked 11th nationally and tied the second-highest single-season mark in NYU history. The California native's .324 hitting percentage was third in the Association and she had five-or-more total blocks on 14 occasions.
Brown, Holz, Hirano, Anvekar and the Violets will continue preparing for the 2023 campaign with scrimmages against Division I Princeton University and Division II Adelphi University on Friday, August 25, at the John A. Paulson Center.
