Volleyball
The women’s volleyball team competed at the UAA Championships this weekend in Rochester, NY.
The team’s first game was on Friday against the No. 8 ranked Washington University in St. Louis, where the Violets fell 1-3 to the Bears. Though the Violets only won the second set, the rest of the game was incredibly close, scoring 23-25, 27-25, 22-25 and 22-25 in each set.
After the first-round loss, which put them in the losers bracket, the Violets played Brandeis University in a five-set match, winning 3-2.
Brandeis took the first set, but with six kills from junior Jessica Spierenburg and 10 assists from sophomore Alden Roberts in the second and third sets, the Violets won them 25-16 and 25-19, forcing a fourth set.
The Judges won the fourth set 25-20, but the Violets dominated in the fifth — sophomore Grace Nelson set the tone with three back-to-back aces — winning the determining set 15-4.
On Saturday, the sixth-seeded Violets played No. 4 Carnegie Mellon University to determine fifth place in the conference tournament. Despite close scores in each set, the Violets lost in four to the Tartans.
Spierenburg gave a powerful performance, leading the Violets with 13 kills and an ace, as well as hitting a .500 hitting percentage. However, UAA All-Academic Laura Reichard led the Tartans with 21 kills, contributing to Carnegie Mellon’s fifth-place win with scores of 25-18, 19-25, 28-26, 26-24.
The women’s volleyball team will compete in the NCAA Division III Regional Championships starting Thursday, Nov. 21.
Basketball
As newly ringed reigning champions, the women’s basketball team played two games this weekend: one against Kean University on Nov. 15 and another against the United States Merchant Marine Academy on Nov. 17.
The Violets controlled the scoreboard against the Kean Cougars, winning 105-36. 2023-24’s WBCA D-III Player of the Year and All-American graduate student Natalie Bruns led the team with 21 points, including one three-pointer. Three-time UAA Defensive Player of the Year and senior Belle Pellecchia was another big scorer, with two three-pointers and 16 points overall.
After the game, the ring ceremony continued with the unveiling of new artwork in their locker room — a purple collage of photos from their championship win and undefeated 2023-24 season.
The Violets rolled to 4-0 this Sunday, Nov. 17 after defeating the Marine Academy 96-65. The team played away, but still managed to gain momentum throughout their most difficult matchup of the season thus far. Sophomore guard Brooke Batchelor put up a career-high 17 points, leading the Violets to victory.
The women’s team looks to continue their winning streak against Colby College on Sunday, Nov. 24 at the Paulson Center.
The men’s basketball team traveled to Union, NJ on Nov. 16 to play against Kean University. The team won the match 76-58, extending their winning streak 3-0.
The Violets had a 34-27 lead by the end of the first half, adding 42 more points by the end of the game.
Graduate student Tristan How led the Violets with a game-high 19 points, and two-time UAA Winter All-Academic senior Zay Freeney was close behind with 13 points. Sophomore Hampton Sanders recorded five assists, the highest of the game. The Violets also had more points off turnovers, second-chance points, points in the paint and fast break points than the Cougars.
The men’s squad is looking to extend their winning streak against the City University of New York, York College Cardinals next Saturday, Nov. 23, in Queens.
Wrestling
NYU hosted the Metropolitan Duals at the Paulson Center on Saturday, Nov. 16, where the wrestling team competed against CUNY Hunter College, New Jersey City University and the Marine Academy.
Before the competition, graduate student Trent Furman and senior Cooper Pontelandolfo celebrated their 100th career wins — Nov. 9 for Furman and Nov. 2 for Pontelandolfo.
The No. 15 Violets won their matches against Hunter College and NJCU, scoring 50-3 and 43-9 respectively.
The match against the Marine Academy had a different outcome. The Violets started strong with wins from junior Harrison Gordon and sophomore Jacob Venezia, gaining an 11-0 lead. However, the Marine Academy came back from the 11-point deficit, resulting in a 27-27 tie after all the bouts. Due to the tie, Criteria B awarded the Mariners an extra point, because they recorded four falls over the Violets’ two.
Six Violets were undefeated for the day, including Gordon, Pontelandolfo, Furman, junior Nicky Bell, senior Anthony DeRosa and graduate student Hassan Khan.
The wrestling team will compete at the New York State Collegiate Championships next Saturday, Nov. 23, in Oneonta, NY.
Cross country
It had been 12 years since the men’s cross country team brought home a regional title, but this weekend, the No. 8 ranked Violets were able to secure the win at the NCAA D-III Niagara Region Championship in Fredonia, NY.
Sophomore Liam Hagerty led the Violets, finishing the 8K in 25:04.8, earning him third place. He finished behind two State University of New York, Geneseo runners, whose team is currently ranked fifth and has held the regional title for the past eight years. Four more Violets — graduate student Evan Sherman, juniors Jeffrey Chen and Andrew Taylor and senior Ryan Tobin — placed fifth through eighth respectively, helping secure the win against Geneseo. The two teams were separated by a one-point difference, with NYU leading 29-30.
The women’s team also reigned victorious — the first time in history that both the women’s and men’s teams have won the regional championship. The No. 4 ranked Violets placed first over 21 other teams, including Geneseo — whose team held the title for the last seven years — earning 32 points, while Geneseo received 36.
Junior Janie Cooper placed third in the 6K race with a time of 21:57.8 and senior Katherine Cochran finished in 22:06.6, placing fifth. Sophomore Josephine Dziedzic, junior Lucy Gott and junior Daniela Sekhar were in seventh through ninth place, securing the win over Geneseo, whose first five runners were in first, fourth, sixth, 12th and 13th places.
Both teams will compete in the D-III NCAA National Championship on Saturday, Nov. 23 in Terre Haute, IN, looking to earn a national title.
Soccer
The women’s soccer team won their first match in the NCAA D-III Championship Tournament against Husson University this Saturday.
In an exciting match, UAA Fall All-Academic Kelli Keady scored a hat trick, matching the team’s all-time goal record of 32.
The Violets were a strong force against the Eagles, securing a 7-1 win. Seven Violets contributed to the score, with goals from Keady, junior Rena Kalargiros, sophomore Carmen Cicerini and first-year Marlee Scanlon, as well as assists from seniors Jessica Tonthat, Rachel Kim, Isa Badillo and Keady.
In the second round of the tournament, the team defeated McDaniel College 2-0, securing their spot in the Sweet 16 — the last 16 teams left in the country.
In the 17th minute of the competition, graduate student and defender Riley Mullady secured the Violets’ first goal of the day with a penalty kick. Senior captain and forward Izze Ching extended the team’s lead with a goal in the 53rd minute, assisted by Keady. The Violets had an overwhelmingly heavy offensive presence compared to McDaniel, with 21 shots against McDaniel’s three.
The Violets will play again on Friday, Nov. 22 in their next guaranteed matchup against Johns Hopkins University.
Fencing
The men’s and women’s fencing teams competed in the NYU Invitational on Sunday, Nov. 17 at the Paulson Center. The Violets hosted St. John’s University, Long Island University and Wagner College, opening the day against Long Island, then facing St. John’s and finally competing against Wagner.
Both the men’s and women’s teams defeated Long Island in the morning — the women won 19-8 and the men 18-9. First-year Greta Yuan went 3-0 in the saber to aid the women’s victory, while senior Oliver Hu and first-year Anders Yu on the men’s roster went 3-0 in the foil.
In the second match of the day, both teams fell just short of a win against St. John’s, with the women finishing 12-15 and the men falling 11-16.
Despite their previous losses, both teams rallied and ended the day strong, defeating Wagner 19-8. Seniors Claudia Meyer and Annika Santos notably went 3-0 in the foil, and Hu, first-year Ajit Sivakumar and junior Farr Dickson closed the day with perfect 3-0 scores in their respective weapons.
The fencing team will be back in action at Vassar College on Sunday, Dec. 8 for the Tradition Tournament.
Contact Isabella D’Erasmo at [email protected].
