New York University's 10th-ranked men's volleyball team defeated eighth-ranked Carthage College in five sets on Saturday, January 20, at UC Santa Cruz's Slug Slam in Santa Cruz, CA.

The Violets are now 2-0 after winning their first two matches at the season-opening event. NYU was led by Luke Boyer's match-high 18 kills, while Emerson Evans posted 13 and Lucas Osiecki had 12.

"Great win for this group of student-athletes. Another gritty victory against a young but very talented Carthage team," said Head Coach José Piña. "Our serving, defense, and passing were the key volleyball components of our victory. But, our grit and togetherness are what carried us to victory."

NYU trailed for just one point in the first set, 5-4, using a 7-2 run in the middle of the frame to create some separation and eventually claim a 25-19 victory.

Carthage scored the first point of the second but that was its only lead of the set as the Violets produced a 9-3 run from there and went on to build a 19-11 advantage. NYU secured a 25-16 win to take a 2-0 lead in games, hitting .353 in the set, but the match was far from over.

The Firebirds controlled most of the third and had set point at 24-17. NYU then scored four consecutive points to make it interesting, before Ben Heise's kill gave Carthage a lifeline with a 25-21 victory.

NYU ran out to a 12-4 lead in the fourth, but the Firebirds clawed all the way back to eventually tie the score 14-14. Back-and-forth play followed, but Carthage managed to fend off any late runs and narrowly won the set 25-23.

The decisive fifth set was a thriller that went to extra points, with each team reaching match point twice before NYU secured a 19-17 triumph with an ace from Boyer to seal it.

"Excellent match by our junior outside hitters (Luke Boyer and Lucas Osiecki), our freshman right side (Emerson Evans), and our junior libero (Zach Knudsen)," Piña added. "Our middles did not have the positive attacking numbers, but were really tough at blocking and making Carthage's attackers be more cautious than they normally are. Basically, it was a great win."

Boyer added seven aces, three digs and two block assists to his match-high 18 kills (.306). Osiecki brought up seven digs and had a pair of aces in addition to his 12 kills.

Devyn Nguyen dished out a match-high 41 assists while Zach Knudsen delivered a match-high 10 digs. Ry Kagan finished with six kills, five total blocks and two assists.

NYU concludes play at the Slug Slam against California Lutheran University on Sunday, January 21, at 10:00am (Pacific) in Santa Cruz, CA.