NYU Captures Second Straight ECAC Volleyball Championships
SCRANTON, Pa. – New York University defended its 2018 ECAC title with a 3-1 (25-21, 17-25, 25-23, 25-14) victory over McDaniel College to claim the 2019 ECAC Division III Volleyball Championship on Sunday afternoon. The Violets ended the year improving to 27-7 on the season while the Green Terror finished 2019 at 16-13.
The opening set saw both teams tied at three before NYU used a 5-3 run to take an 8-6 lead. The Green Terror tied the set at eight off an ace and then took a 9-8 lead off a kill by senior Hayley Mills (Bowie, Md.). Both teams once again found themselves tied at 11 before NYU took the lead off a 5-2 run to make it, 16-13. McDaniel attempted to chip away at the lead but it wasn’t enough as the Violets took the set, 25-21.
McDaniel took an early 8-3 lead in the second set to force NYU to call its first timeout of the set. Coming out of the timeout the Green Terror used a 6-3 run to push their lead to 14-7. With all of the momentum on McDaniel’s side, they were able to close out the set with a 25-17 win to tie the match at one.
The Green Terror carried that momentum into the third set as they took an early 5-3 lead. NYU would take advantage of an attack error to start a 4-0 run to take a 7-5 lead. The lead didn’t last long as McDaniel was able to tie it at seven off of two attack errors by NYU. The rest of the set saw both teams going back and forth, battling through six more ties before NYU claimed the set with a 25-23 win.
NYU wasted no time jumping out to an early 5-2 lead in the fourth set as it looked to put the match to rest. McDaniel tried to claw its way back as it came within two (8-6), but the Violets pushed their lead to 12-6 using a 4-0 surge. NYU never looked back after going up six as it closed out the match with a 25-14 victory.
NYU as a team registered a hitting percentage of .279 and six total blocks.
The Green Terror finished with a match-highs in aces with 10 and kills with 49 as a team.
Freshman Haley Holz (Palatine, Ill.) of NYU led both teams in kills with 14 through four sets. Teammate, sophomore
Abby Ausmus (San Diego, Calif.) finished with eight kills and three digs while registering a .538 hitting percentage.
NYU junior Jacqueline Kupeli (Danville, Calif.) tallied team-highs in digs with 17 and aces with two.
Junior Emma Lorenzen (Hagerstown, Md.) led McDaniel with a .409 hitting percentage while recording 10 kills. Fellow teammate junior
Marlowe Embry (San Jose, Calif.) finished with 15 kills and 13 digs, both team-highs.
Sophomore Anna Jezerski (Ellicott City, Md.) of McDaniel led both teams in aces with five.