As we head toward the middle of the semester, some of NYU’s fall teams are heating up in a big way while others are still struggling to string consistent wins together. It’s still relatively early in the season for most teams, but let’s see how things are going so far.

Women’s Volleyball

Losing two straight to start the season, the team briefly struggled with finding an identity — something they’ve apparently gotten over quite quickly. The volleyball team has now gotten into a clear groove, as they are currently on a six-game win streak. The team has a 10-3 record on the season and has been absolutely dominant in recent outings, namely their Sept. 13 game against Brooklyn College where they swept 3-0, including a decisive 25-2 final set. Individual standout performances include junior middle blocker Rayne Ellis who has a team leading 111 kills and averages 2.52 kills per set.

Next up: Friday, Sept. 23 at home at the Brooklyn Athletic Facility where they will take on the College of Mount Saint Vincent.

Golf

The men putted onto the season strong, coming in first of 12 teams in their first tournament of the season at the St. Lawrence Invitational. However, it’s been more sputter than putter recently as they finished fourth of six teams in their second outing at the Middlebury/Lake Placid Invitational. The women’s team was similarly successful at the St. Lawrence Invitational where they too came away with first overall honors. However, at their second tournament this past weekend in Massachusetts they came third of seven. The men’s team is ripe with freshmen talent including Matt Shen and Jensen Li, while the women’s contingent is punctuated by the presence of sophomore Jenni Bluetling.

Next up: The men’s team is headed to the Liberty League Championship in Baldwinsville, New York this weekend while the women’s team will be back in the Bay State at the Mt. Holyoke Invitational.

Tennis

At their opening tournament, the women’s tennis team suffered a fairly rough start to the season, going 1-4 in doubles on day one and 1-8 in singles on day two. The men’s squad fared slightly better as they went 5-3 in singles on day one and 4-8 on day two. The following week, the men went on to dominate the Four in the Fall tournament, while the women improved on their bumpy beginnings.

Next-up: The women play this weekend in the ITA Northeast Regional Championships hosted by William Smith in Geneva, New York while the men will be participating in the Stevens Institute of Technology Invitational in Hoboken, New Jersey.

Soccer

On the pitch, both the men’s and women’s teams have played relatively consistently with the men posting a 3-2-2 record as of today and the women looking slightly hotter at 5-1-1. Both teams have suffered from hard fought games that have gone to double OT, only to end in a tie.

The men have seen standout performers in junior midfielder Tristan Medios-Simon and senior captain Petter Aasa, with the duo taking the top two spots on the team in every statistical category.

The women have had some solid play as of late with senior captain and goalkeeper Cassie Steinberg supporting the team well. Other highlights have come from the trio of junior forward Teressa Fazio, freshman forward Alex Benedict and senior captain and midfielder Lexi Clarke.

Next up: The women will be in Center Valley, Pennsylvania on Saturday, Sept. 24 to play DeSales University while the men will play Drew University at home on Tuesday, Sept. 27.

Cross Country

Despite only having one meet under their belt, both the men’s and women’s teams showed promise to start the season. The men’s team came in third at the Ron Stonitsch Invitational in Poughkeepsie, New York. Senior and team staple Jorge Maldonado leading by example as he came first of the pack, while the women came in a respectable eighth of 15. Greater individual success was hampered by a situational injury to senior Kassi Chrysanthopoulos.

Next up: Both halves of the Violets cross country squad will be back for their second effort this Saturday in Williamstown, Massachusetts as they participate in the Purple Valley Classic.

Email Rachel Ruecker at [email protected].