The New York University women's volleyball team split a pair of matches at the John A. Paulson Center in Manhattan, on Saturday, October 18. 

The Violets opened the day by winning a back-and-forth five-set contest against Kean University, 25-17, 24-26, 20-25, 25-22, 15-8.

NYU then dropped a match to Williams College 26-24, 25-21, 25-20. 

The first set against Kean began knotted at 9-9 until a five-point run, followed by a seven-point run, gave the Violets a 21-10 lead. NYU went on to cruise to a first-set victory. 

A tightly-contested second set saw NYU jump out to a 4-0 lead. Kean closed the gap at 9-9, but the Violets regained the lead on a three-point run. NYU held the lead until the Cougars took their first lead of the set at 19-18. Both teams fought to separate, but Kean ultimately clinched the set. 

The Violets bounced back in a must-win fourth set. A pair of three-point leads for the Cougars were erased by the Violets at 5-5 and 9-9. The score was tied six times after that, the last time at 16-16. A kill from Grace Nelson sparked a four-point run which gave the Violets the lead and the momentum, as they took the win to force a fifth set. 

NYU completed the comeback by dominating the fifth set. The Violets took the first four points and never looked back. Their lead grew to as many as seven points at 12-5, and never dropped below three. 

Nelson led the team with 15 kills. Chloe Lemons wasn't far behind, tallying 12 kills (her season-high) on a .367 hitting percentage. Ava Launsbach led the Violets with 32 assists while Kaitlyn Sato shored up the defense with 12 digs. 

"We needed an all-around team effort to beat this gritty team. The more risks we took, the more reward we got," says Head Coach Andrew Brown. "Lemons was the player for us in this match. Every time we needed a kill, she got it."

In the match against Williams, NYU fought hard but was unable to take a set. 

The opening set included 13 ties and a maximum lead of three points for either team, but Williams edged out the win. 

NYU was down 19-11 in the second set but would not give up, closing the gap to 23-21. However, the Violets were unable to complete the comeback and dropped the second set. 

The Violets took their largest lead of the match at 16-13 in the third set. The Ephs then went on a five-point run, taking the lead and holding it the rest of the way. 

Jessica Spierenburg, Chloe Hynes, and Nelson all recorded seven kills on the match. Spierenburg and Coco Barton each tallied four blocks as Sato again led the defense with nine digs. 

The Violets are back in action on Sunday, October 26, as they head to Chicago, IL, to face Case Western Reserve University and Carnegie Mellon University in UAA Round Robin #3. The matches are scheduled for 12 p.m CT and 2 p.m CT, respectively.