Violets Split Against Ranked Teams
The New York University women's volleyball team opened its 2025 season on Friday with a pair of matches in San Antonio, Texas.
Hosted by Trinity University, the #23-ranked Violets
played Millikin University in their opening match and then faced the University of Wisconsin-Platteville.
The Violets were victorious in the first match, recording a 19-25, 27-25, 25-20, 25-12 win over the #12-ranked Big Blue. NYU then played another four-setter, falling to the #13 Pioneers 25-20, 24-26, 25-21, 25-22. .
After dropping the first set, the Violets trailed 24-22 in thw second and were on the brink of falling behind 2-0. However, a service error and an attack error by Millikin evened the score, and after again falling behind 25-24, consecutive kills from Sarah Lattan, Grace Nelson and Chloe Hynes helped NYU even the match.
The Violets led by as any as four points in the third set before Millikin rallied to within 21-20. But, Nelson's kill jump-started a 4-0 set-ending run for NYU.
The Violets never trailed in the final set as they claimed the season-opening victory.
"I think the team played really well today.In our first match," said Head Coach Andrew Brown. "I think our returners did a great job at and resetting after the first set and just playing crisper volleyball as the match continued. I think our ability to adapt to find our opponents' weakness was definitely strategically visible throughout the match."
Hynes (13), Chloe Lemons and Nelson each recorded double-digit kills for the Violets, while Ava Launsbach (22) and Jessica Ding (19) each totaled double-digit assists. Lemons (19) and Nelson (10) added double-digit digs.
In the second match, the two teams split the first two sets. The third was tied 18-18 when the Pioneers scored the next two points and held the lead the rest of the way.
In the final set, NYU took a 19-18 lead on a kill by Casey Cho. However, it was the Violets' final lead as Wisconsin-Platteville ended the match on 7-3 run.
Hynes again led the way with 12 kills, while Launsbach and Ding finished with 18 and 12 assists, respectively.
Felecia Wu (13), Lemons (12) and Duru Topcu (10) added double-digit digs.
"I felt we battled extremely well and displayed tons of grit," Brown explained. "Our middles were locked in offensively from the start and really put pressure on Platteville to try and slow us offensively. All in all, I think our upperclassmen did a great job establishing our brand of volleyball and our new players showed up and showed out, which is exciting to see this early in the season."