NEW YORK, N.Y. – MIT senior Grant Oh (Irvine, Calif.) finished with a match-high 11 kills but No. 1 NYU swept past the No. 20 ranked MIT men's volleyball team, 3-0, in UVC play on Saturday afternoon at the John A. Paulson Center.
THE BASICS:
- Score: NYU 3, MIT 0 (25-21, 25-17, 25-19)
- Records: No. 1 NYU (15-0, 1-0 UVC) No. 20 MIT (9-7, 0-3 UVC)
HOW IT HAPPENED:
- Set 1: The Violets opened up an early 6-3 lead, only to see MIT rally back within one following a pair of NYU errors. The Engineers kept the set close, trailing by scores of 11-9, 12-10 and 13-11, before NYU scored four straight points to take a 17-11 lead following a kill by sophomore Emerson Evans (Huntington Beach, Calif.). NYU stretched the lead to 21-13 following an ace from senior Lucas Osiecki (Middle Village, N.Y.). Trailing by eight, MIT responded, scoring the next six points in the match to close the deficit back to two, 21-19, on a kill by sophomore Ryan Espinoza (Los Angeles, Calif.). However, NYU scored four of the final six points in the set to hold on to take a 25-21 win.
- Set 2: The Engineers continued to hang around during the second set, with NYU holding on to leads of one or two points until Violets scored three straight points to take a 13-9 lead midway through the frame. Grant Oh put down a kill for the Engineers on two of the next three rallies but NYU continued to grow its advantage, eventually leading 21-15 when a kill by senior Luke Boyer (Los Angeles, Calif.) forced MIT to take a timeout. A kill from Espinoza gave MIT the first point after the timeout but NYU scored four of the final points to win the set, 25-17.
- Set 3: NYU finished off the sweep with a 25-19 victory in the third set. MIT held on to an early 4-2 lead before NYU rallied back with three straight points to take a 5-4 lead. The Violets never trailed for the remainder of the set, growing the advantage to 16-10 following an MIT error. The Engineers closed the deficit to four, at 16-12, after an NYU error. The four point deficit was the closest MIT would be for the remainder of the match, as NYU closed out a 25-19 victory.
INSIDE THE NUMBERS:
- NYU finished the match with a .373 hitting percentage as Osiecki and Evans each put down eight kills and Boyer and Ry Kagan (Calabasas, Calif.) each added seven.
- Grant Oh finished with a 11 kills on 31 of MIT's 80 attack attempts.
- NYU had the advantage at the net, totaling 14 blocks to MIT's four.
- The Violets also had the advantage in digs, 27-20.
- Junior Kevin Windisch (Placentia, Calif.) totaled seven digs to lead the MIT defense.
UP NEXT:
- MIT returns home to host Nazareth and SUNY Polo in a ti-match on Saturday, March 1. The Engineers will face Nazareth at 1:00 PM and SUNY Poly at 5:00 PM. NYU will welcome Elmira College to campus on Friday, February 28 at 7:00 PM.
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