The New York University women's volleyball team rebounded from its opening-day loss to defeat a pair of opponents on Saturday, September 2, at the John A. Paulson Center in Manhattan.

After falling to Ithaca College on Friday in the first-ever varsity match at the sparkling new Paulson Center, the host Violets posted a pair of straight-set victories over Millikin University and Kean University on Saturday.
 
The #4-ranked Violets were dominant in the first match, easing to a 25-14, 25-20, 25-13 victory. NYU out-hit Millikin .321 to .064 and was led by the accuracy of Haley Holz, whose 12 kills were accompanied by only one error for a .524 hitting percentage. Grace Nelson added eight kills, while Camile Nazor added five with only one error (.444). 

Ava Launsbach (18) and Dominique Drust (12) each had double-digit assists, and Lindsey Hirano led along the back line with 15 digs.  

The second match vs. Kean was almost a carbon copy, as the Violets again had little trouble in the 25-11, 25-14, 25-14 sweep.

Holz and Nelson each had 14 kills, with Nazor contributing eight. Launsbach (21) and Drust (11) again had double-digit assists with Hirano leading the way with 13 digs.

"It's been a long time since we had a home. And, despite the loss yesterday, everyone did a good job at understanding that today brought new opportunities," said Head Coach Andrew Brown. 

The Violets produced another huge advantage in the hitting game, posting a .388 percentage to the Cougars' .127.

"Our setters made really good decisions and put our hitters in really good positions to score a lot of points," Brown added.

The Violets are back at the Paulson Center Tuesday night at 7pm for a match against Montclair State University.