The NYU women’s volleyball team received an at-large bid to the NCAA Division III Championship Tournament on Monday, after finishing sixth in the UAA Championship. They lost to Washington University in St. Louis in the first round 1-3, beat Brandeis University 3-2 in the loser’s bracket, but were defeated 1-3 by Carnegie Mellon University.
Last season, NYU won the UAA Championship, automatically qualifying for the NCAA Tournament but was knocked out in the Final Four. On the way, they beat Eastern Nazarene College 3-0, Eastern University 3-1, Ithaca College 3-0 and the University of Northwestern-St. Paul 3-2. They were swept by Juniata College 15-25, 19-25 and 20-25 in the semifinals and, this season, will look to make a fifth appearance in the Final Four in program history.
Ahead of this week’s NCAA tournament, our staff at WSN have made a couple of predictions for the first-round match against William Smith College on Thursday, Nov. 21 — some of them substantive, some of them not so much.
If the Violets win, they will advance to the second round on Friday, Nov. 22 and the third round on Saturday, Nov. 23.
Disclaimer: These predictions are just for fun and are not to be taken seriously. The WSN staff is, in fact, not liable for any of the events that transpire in the games cited below.
Alisia Houghtaling, Multimedia Editor
William Smith College: 3-0, W
Statistics are on NYU’s side for this game. Even though we have played five more games than Wiliam Smith, five games could not fix their statistical disadvantage. As someone who has seen how gritty NYU’s team is and how amazing their dynamic is, I do not even need to know how William Smith plays to know we have the advantage.
No one wants to be knocked out from a tournament in the first leg — especially not a team that has the winning advantage. I know the NYU girls are not walking into this match to mess around, and I look forward to their win.
Andrea Lui, Culture Editor
William Smith College: 2-3, L
If you look up “Hobart and William Smith Colleges” on Google Maps, you’ll see that this school is about a 10-hour commute from Manhattan via public transportation. Although NYU and William Smith are both technically New York schools, one is located in the ever-so-bustling Big Apple, while the other is tucked away in the middle of nowhere, also known as Geneva.
I mean, what else is there to do in Geneva? The women’s volleyball players at William Smith probably don’t have anything better to do than practice. Instead of being surrounded by concrete towers and rowdy nightclubs, William Smith actually has grass for its students to touch, making it a lot easier to lock in and focus.
I’m not saying that the NYU team has been getting distracted as of late, but by the looks of William Smith’s record, I wouldn’t be surprised if William Smith gave the Violets a run for their money.
Jonathan Mak, Sports Editor
William Smith College: 3-2, W
I think the at-large bid is a good enough warning sign to spur these Violets to have a good run in the tournament. Yes, NYU has not performed as well as last year and yes, they did not reach as far as they wanted to in the UAA tournament. However, I think that since the Violets were given such slim chances to enter the NCAA tournament, they won’t take it for granted.
Pin hitters include sophomores Grace Nelson and Chloe Lemons, first-year Chloe Hynes and junior Jessica Spierenburg. The four were on form last weekend, all securing double-digit kills over the three UAA matches.
William Smith, on the other hand, has a little bit of a scary record at 22-6 and are 7-1 in conference. They have 12 sweeps but were knocked out in the Liberty League conference tournament second round by No. 20-ranked Ithaca College in three sets — losing each set by 10 points or more.
The Violets have never played this team before, and what a way to start that record against the Herons with an enthralling five-set win.
Levi Langley, Deputy Sports Editor
William Smith College: 3-0, W
It’s a sweep for me. The Violets are itching for a win, and I think this game is just the match to give it to them.
After somewhat of a bumpy ride throughout the past few weeks, the Violets finished sixth in the UAA Conference Championships. Compared to last year’s first-place finish, it might be easy to question the Violets’ capability of winning in high-pressure moments this season.
However, there is some important nuance to be stated that goes into their season’s performance, finishing with an overall record of 21-12. The UAA conference is arguably the best D-III conference in the country, with four of the conference’s eight teams closing out the season nationally ranked in the American Volleyball Coaches Association’s coaches poll. NYU fell out of the rankings on Oct. 22, 2024.
The NCAA tournament is always a different story than the regular season. In the post-season, you are often playing teams that you have never seen before — like the Violets, who have never once in program history headed up against the Herons. I don’t really know much about William Smith’s dynamic either, but I’m sure that the women’s team did their homework better than I did. It should be an interesting time to say the least. Roll Violets!
Contact Alisia Houghtaling, Andrea Lui, Jonathan Mak and Levi Langley at [email protected]
