Baseball

NYU’s baseball team opened the 2025 season on Saturday, splitting a doubleheader at Hendrix College in Conway, AR.

Hendrix held a 7-0 lead until the top of the fifth inning when junior Kosta Mocklis hit a solo home run. He bookended NYU’s scoring, as junior Max Oliveira and graduate student Connor Roggero scored in the top of the seventh, followed by a run from Mocklis to close out the Violets’ scoring. Hendrix defeated NYU 12-4 in the first game.

In the second game, graduate student Nick Argenziano homered in the top of the first, the only run scored for nearly half of the game. Hendrix answered with one run in the fifth inning and four more in the sixth. NYU came back at the top of the seventh with a grand slam from Mocklis — allowing for runs from Roggero, Oliveira and graduate student Nate Pallotta. The Violets notched two more runs in the eighth, from Argenziano and Oliveira, winning the second game 8-6.

The team returns to the field Sunday, facing off against Dominican University at host Hendrix.

Basketball

The men’s and women’s basketball teams traveled to Rochester, NY on Sunday, each defeating the University of Rochester Yellowjackets.

The No. 1-ranked women’s team clinched a share of the UAA championship with the 87-58 win over the Yellowjackets, marking the team’s 53rd consecutive win. Four Violets scored double digits — graduate student Natalie Bruns led with 19, and graduate student Jamie Behar, junior Caroline Peper and senior Belle Pellecchia followed, scoring 16, 13 and 12, respectively. 

On the men’s team, graduate student Jack Stone scored 22 points, with six three-pointers on eight attempts — a season-high. His high score was followed by 18 points from senior Zay Freeney, 16 from sophomore Hampton Sanders and 12 from graduate student Tristan How. The Violets defeated Rochester 86-69, bringing the men’s record to 21-1.

Both teams returned to the home court at the Paulson Center on Friday, beating Carnegie Mellon University. Friday’s wins were crucial for the Violets, as the women’s team earned the outright UAA championship and the men’s team earned a share of it. 

Bruns led in scoring for the women again, with 21 points against the Tartans. Peper had 19 points and six assists, senior Mary Kate Fahey scored 15 points and Pellecchia earned 14. The 83-52 win earned the women’s team the UAA championship title for the fourth consecutive year, bringing its record for the season to 23-0 and its overall win streak to 54 — tied for the 12th-longest in NCAA women’s collegiate basketball history.

Half of the men’s top scorers came from the bench on Friday, with Sanders registering a game-high 18 points. Junior Bryan Moussako scored a career-high 15 points — going five-for-five on three-pointers. Stone and Freeney followed with 11 and eight points each, scoring important three-pointers at the start of the second half, which began tied 37-37. Those quick six points gave the Violets the momentum they needed, and they closed out the night 77-61, clinching a share of the UAA championship title.

NYU is back in action on Sunday, celebrating senior day and the last regular season home games against Case Western Reserve University. The women play at noon and the men follow at 2 p.m.

Swimming & Diving

The swimming and diving teams hosted the non-team scoring NYU Winter Invitational on Friday and Saturday in the Palladium Athletic Facility Natatorium.

On the men’s team, junior Derek Young won the 50-yard freestyle, first-year Sean Li placed first in the 100-yard breaststroke, first-year Hodge Dauler took home the win in the 200-yard backstroke and sophomore Ryan Sen won the 200-yard individual medley event. First-years Oliver Engel and Bryan Manheimer had a one-two finish in the 200-yard freestyle, both posting personal bests. Junior Marko Todorovic also earned a personal record in the 200-yard butterfly.

The women had three victories, with first-year Sarah Pierson’s 200-yard backstroke, first-year Alia Saba’s 50-yard freestyle and the 200-yard medley relay swam by sophomore Cate Ferandin, first-year Andrea Wu, Saba and first-year Ainsley Taylor.

On Saturday, Engel won the 500-yard freestyle for the men, and Manheimer and Li set personal records in the 100-yard freestyle. Diving senior William Hopkins won the men’s six-dive 1-meter with 340.75 points after six dives. 

Senior diver Issara Schmidt set a program record in the 11-dive 1-meter event, with a total score of 541.80. She broke the 2016-17 record of 530.95 points.

The diving teams return to the water for the NCAA Regional Diving Championships in Springfield, MA on Friday, Feb. 28 and Saturday, March 1. They will have one final competition, along with the swimming teams, at the NCAA Championships in Greensboro, NC, March 19-22.

Tennis

The men’s and women’s tennis teams opened their seasons Saturday, playing Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in Troy, NY.

The women’s team defeated RPI 5-2, with all five points coming from singles matches. First-year Emma Kast and graduate student Maria Vitoria beat RPI in one doubles match, but because teams must win two out of three doubles matches to earn the point, RPI was up 1-0 at the end of the doubles events.

In the singles matches, the NYU women won five of six, with victories from senior Jimena Menendez, first-year Victoria Wang, junior Aditi Narayan, first-year Norah Staunton and junior Kendall Kamerschen. 

On the men’s team, the matches were hard-fought but NYU fell to RPI 7-0. All three doubles matches went to a tiebreak, but ended up with losses.

The teams return to the court on Sunday, facing off against Union College in Schenectady, NY.

Volleyball

The No. 1 ranked men’s volleyball team swept St. Joseph’s University Long Island on Wednesday and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology on Saturday. 

Senior Lucas Osiecki led in kills, digs and aces in Wednesday’s match with 11, eight and two, respectively. Senior Buddy Cohen recorded eight kills, junior Jerry Feng notched four digs and sophomore Devyn Nguyen — who leads the United Volleyball Conference in assists — added another 34 to his lead. 

Saturday marked NYU’s first UVC match and Violets’ 15th win, bringing the team’s record to 15-0 for the season. Senior libero Zach Knudsen recorded seven digs, while Osiecki and sophomore Emerson Evans had eight kills each, and senior Luke Boyer followed with seven. Senior Ry Kagan, the UVC’s leader in hitting percentage, had six blocks. 

The undefeated NYU team hits the court at the Paulson Center again on Friday, Feb. 28, facing off against Elmira College.

Wrestling

The wrestling team traveled to Hartford, CT, facing off against Trinity College on Friday and then on Saturday to Ewing, NJ for the Mideast Futures Tournament hosted by The College of New Jersey.

NYU won on Friday with standout performances including sophomore John Mairano’s decision, graduate student Hassan Khan’s technical fall, junior Nicky Bell’s major decision and graduate student Trent Furman and junior Luke DuPont’s pins.

The Violets ended Saturday’s tournament third of 12 teams, with six wrestlers placing top three in their weight classes. Senior Anthony DeRosa won the 197-pound class, and first-years Dmitry Derbedyenyev and Jonah Ginsberg shared second place in the 184-pound class. Three Violets earned third place in their respective weight classes, including first-year Neale Pathak in the 125-pound class, senior Finn Eskeland in the 174-pound class and first-year Alexander Kaufmann in the 165-pound weight class. 

Next on the schedule for the Violets is the NCAA Regionals tournament beginning Friday, Feb. 28, hosted by Messiah University in Grantham, PA.