In arguably its toughest match of the season, the undefeated and top-ranked New York University men's volleyball team completed its regular season with a perfect 23-0 record after defeating #10 Vassar College in a United Volleyball Conference (UVC) match-up on Wednesday, April 2, at the John A. Paulson Center in Manhattan.

The Violets won the first two sets by identical scores of 25-19, dropped the third set 25-23 and the fourth 25-22, before rebounding to grab the final set 15-13.

NYU never trailed in either of the first two sets.

Leading by only two, 19-17 late in the second, a Luke Boyer kill and a pair of blocks highlighted a 4-0 Violet run as NYU went on to clinch the set.  

In the third set, NYU again jumped out to an early lead. But, the score remained close and there were several ties before a 4-0 NYU run snapped a 10-10 deadlock. However, the Violets could not stay in front as Vassar took its first lead of the match at 18-17.

Then with the set deadlocked at 22-22, the Brewers scored the next two points and held on for the win.

Vassar kept its momentum into the fourth set, snapping a 13-13 tie with two straight points and holding the lead the rest of the way.

With NYU's undefeated season on the line in the final set, the two team stayed within two points of each other the entire way. Then, with the score at 13-13, Ry Kagan stepped up with consecutive kills for the Violets to keep the undefeated season intact.   

"Kagan was clutch with his hitting in the final set," said Head Coach Jose Pina. "But, Lucas Osiecki was also dominant in that last set. His serving propelled us to come back. effort."

Kagan was one of three Violets to finish with double-digit kills, recording 11 with a .563 hitting percentage. Lucas Osiecki had a team-high 15 kills with Emerson Evans adding 11.

Devyn Nguyen led the way with match-highs of 40 assists and 16 digs.

"As for the undefeated regular season, a great accomplishment for this group of young men," Pina added. "Though we played the same rotation of eight guys during this match, it truly has been a whole squad effort all season long."

NYU will now host the UVC Championships Friday-Sunday, April 11-13, at the Paulson Center. The six-team tournament will feature two matches on Friday, two on Saturday and the Championship Match on Sunday. NYU will face the winner of Friday's #4 vs. #5 match on Saturday at 2:30pm.