The NYU women’s volleyball team has made an impressive start to the season with a 15-2 record overall, an even better start than its roughly 10-3 record at the same stage last season.
The team finished third in the UAA conference last season — an all-time record for NYU. It made two consecutive NCAA tournament appearances, making the Sweet Sixteen in 2021 and Final Four last season.
The Violets have been on a ruthless winning streak since losing 1-3 to Ithaca College in the season opener, winning 10 consecutive games before the first round of UAA games at the end of September. It swept seven teams and dropped only three sets out of the 33 played.
“This team is super competitive,” head coach Andrew Brown said. “A lot of players that are on the team now only know winning, whereas before, we had to fight so hard every year to get better to make it to this level.”
Team captain Haley Holz — a senior playing on the team for her fourth year — has been electric this season, registering 168 kills — the second highest in the team.
Holz is also currently fifth in all-time kills (1,114) for NYU and could become second by the end of the season if she can replicate her 470 kills from last season.
“I believe that the team has really begun to find its groove, its chemistry,” Holz said. “We know that we have all of the pieces and now they are starting to fall into place — clicking together.”
The Violets — 10-1 at the time — started the UAA Round Robin No. 1 in Cleveland on Sept. 23 against Brandeis University, who was 5-3, and Case Western Reserve University, who was 9-3. After comfortably sweeping Brandeis, NYU were humbled by Case Western 0-3. The team was able to bounce back, however, with a 3-1 win against Washington University in St. Louis.
“Any UAA game is always tough,” Brown said. “It feels like a postseason game because of how good our conference is as a whole. We understand what we need to do better next time. We have an opportunity to play them again. And the team did a really good job resetting after that loss before playing WashU.”
The women’s volleyball team has been playing in Paulson Center this season, a change from its former home gym in the Brooklyn Athletic Facility. Besides a shorter commute, the new facility now provides a place to bond with their own locker room.
The Violets have made the Paulson Center a fortress, playing 13 games at home and winning all but the opening-day game. The team continued to enjoy its home-court advantage last weekend, beating Hunter College 3-1, Endicott College 3-0, and Wesleyan University 3-1.
“We love the support we get from people who come to watch the game,” said senior Chloe Hum. “It’s definitely been something we’ve had to get used to but we’ve been doing a great job with dealing with the extra pressure. We love seeing people get so excited about volleyball and having fun at our games.”
The Violets look to extend their streak in their second round of UAA play this weekend, playing Emory University and the University of Rochester in back-to-back games on Oct. 8 in Chicago.
“Emory’s on an unbelievable run this year, and Rochester is not the team from years in the past,” Brown said. “Anytime we play conference and back-to-back, it takes a lot. So we’re going to have to be extra gritty because every point is going to be like a marathon.”
Contact Jonathan Mak at [email protected].
