Basketball
On Friday, the men’s and women’s basketball teams played against Case Western Reserve University for a Tear It Up! event at the Paulson Center on Jan. 30.
The top-ranked women’s basketball team dominated against CWRU in a 93-64 win to extend their winning streak to 79 games.
The first quarter was tight, with NYU leading by two points ahead of CWRU. By halftime, the team was leading 43-33. The Violets dominated the second half of the game, adding 50 points to the final score, whereas Case Western was only able to get an additional 31 on the board.
Junior Brooke Batchelor racked up a then-career-high of 22 points in a game and led the team with 10 field goals made out of 14 attempts. Junior Yasmene Clark led the team with 14 rebounds, 12 of which came in the first two quarters, and seven assists for the Violets’ win.
NYU narrowly held on to the winning streak on Sunday, winning by just one point against Carnegie Mellon University — the team’s narrowest win since the streak started.
Heading into halftime, NYU led 28-25, but Carnegie Mellon wouldn’t let up through the second half. Despite the Violets holding an eight-point lead late in the third quarter, the Tartans fought back to gain the upper hand in the final four minutes of regulation.
With just one second to go, NYU held a 58-57 lead over CMU. The Tartans had the ball, but a turnover and a resulting steal from sophomore Caitlin Kenney sealed the deal for the Violets.
Clark, breaking her record for the third time this season with 18 rebounds, kept the Violets in the game when the team’s shots failed to find the net. NYU shot just 34.3% as a team, outmatched by Carnegie Mellon’s 41.2% success. Batchelor blew Friday’s record out of the water with 28 points against the Tartans, shooting 63.2% from the field. On the other hand, senior Caroline Peper, one of NYU’s sharpest shooters, went 3-11 from beyond the arc and made a season-low 21.1% of her field goal attempts. Despite the struggle, Peper made her three-point buckets count, tying it up for the Violets at crucial points in the game.
The No. 22-ranked men’s basketball team recorded its fifth loss of the season against unranked CWRU in a tight 87-83 contest.
By halftime, the Violets were leading 51-47, despite trailing by 10 points during the first half. NYU shot 60% during the first half, but the second half posed a challenge for the team as the Violets lost their rhythm, only making 37.84% of the team’s field goal tries.
Graduate student Darren Rubin led the team with 20 points, junior Carnegie Johnson scored 19 points and graduate student Luke Kolaja racked up 18 points. Kolaja also tied the Violets’ lead in rebounds with eight, alongside graduate student Andrew Waldman.
On Sunday, the Violets took the court at the Paulson Center and secured a 74-63 victory against the unranked Carnegie Mellon team.
NYU led 38-33 by halftime and out-shot CMU 42.4% to 33.3% in field goals made. Kolaja led the team with 11 points and tied with senior Quinn Clark with 66.7% of field goals made. Clark also recorded eight rebounds.
The Violets ramped up the game and kept the lead throughout the second half. The team held the largest lead of the game with 15 points. Kolaja racked up an additional 12 points for a total of 23, the most of any Violet.
The teams will hit the road for the second half of conference play, meeting CWRU in Cleveland, OH on Feb. 6, and continuing on to Pittsburgh, PA to face Carnegie Mellon on Feb. 8. If the women’s basketball team can secure the two wins away from home, the Violets will make history with the longest streak in Division III women’s basketball.
Fencing
The women’s fencing team conquered No. 4-ranked Harvard University, 14-13, for the first time in program history on Friday. Since the universities’ first matchup in 1993, Harvard has won all 30 of their previous matchups.
Foil and saber squads went up first, with Harvard winning in both disciplines with decisive 6-3 records. However, it was NYU’s epee squad with a 8-1 record that steered the team to a narrow victory. Sophomores Katherine Chen and Azniv Basralian led the comeback with 3-0 shutouts.
The men’s fencing team wasn’t able to replicate the women’s team’s success against No. 3-ranked Harvard. Saber and foil squads opened up the match, with both squads falling 6-3 against the Crimson. The epee squad was aiming to complete a comeback, but fell 5-4 to Harvard. First-year Jordan Macarty led NYU with a 2-1 record in epee.
Both teams headed to the Eric Sollee Invitational hosted by Brandeis University on Saturday to face off against Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Brandeis and Boston College. The women’s team also competed against Brown University, Tufts University and Wellesley College, while the men’s team competed against Stevens Institute of Technology.
The Violets won its matches against MIT, with the men’s team winning 18-9 while the women’s team won in a narrow 14-13 comeback. The men’s team fell to host Brandeis 16-11, while the women’s team continued on a winning streak with a 15-12 victory against Brandeis. Both teams fell to BC with the men’s team recording a 16-11 loss and the women’s team recording a 15-12 loss.
The men’s team capped off the meet with a close 14-13 win over Stevens. First-year Surya Mattoo led the saber squad with five wins and Julius DeStefano led the epee squad with six wins. Junior Adam Wong racked up eight victories in foil.
On the women’s side, NYU recorded a 15-12 loss to Brown, a 17-10 loss to Tufts and a 17-10 loss to Wellesley. First-year Hiba Hafeez led epee in victories and Rosemarie Benciu led saber with 10 victories. Junior Aurora Aschettino and senior Emily Luo each tallied six wins for the foil squad.
The men’s team will return to the piste at the Beguinet Classic on Feb. 7 at Duke University and the women’s team will return at the Miller Invitational on Feb. 8 at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill.
Track & field
The men’s and women’s track and field teams sent 13 athletes to the Metropolitan Indoor Championships on Jan. 30, but failed to place. The meet, which was first held last year, brings together New York City teams to compete on Staten Island.
First-year Alexa McMillian turned in a notable performance for the Violets, earning NYU’s highest finish of the meet with a mark of 5.16 meters in the women’s long jump. McMillian took ninth in the event. Senior Emma Grunin finished 12th in the women’s shot put with a throw of 10.59 meters. First-year Amalia Hronides cleared 1.50 meters in the women’s high jump, placing 14th overall.
The Violets will compete against host Rutgers-Newark on Feb. 6th at The Armory.
Volleyball
On Tuesday, the men’s volleyball team beat Hunter College on its home court. Junior right-side hitter Emerson Evans led the Violets with a team-high 15 kills and five aces. Senior outside hitter Jerry Feng also contributed, recording nine kills and three blocks.
NYU took the first two sets 25-14 and 25-16. The Hawks were able to bring the energy in the third set, winning 25-22. In the tightly contested battle, NYU held a 16-11 lead before the Hawks returned the Violets’ energy with a strong run, forcing a fourth set. NYU fought back in the fourth set, coming out after six ties with a 25-20 victory to secure the match win.
NYU is set to host Rutgers-Newark in the Paulson Center at 6 p.m. on Feb. 3.
Wrestling
NYU secured a dominant 35-14 victory over Shippensburg University in the first contest of the quad-meet hosted by East Stroudsburg University on Sunday.
Sophomore Xavier Diaz opened strong for the Violets with a major decision in the 125-lb weight class. Senior Jacob Venezia and sophomore James Carlock added subsequent wins in the 133-lb and 141-lb classes respectively, bringing the team to a 14-0 start. Shippensburg only took home three wins against NYU in the 149-lb, 165-lb and 197-lb bouts. The meet ended with a Shippensburg forfeit, widening the Violet lead with six more points added to NYU’s tally.
NYU won their match against New Jersey City University 28-15. NYU bounced back, sweeping the last five bouts for a total of 28 points thanks to the efforts of first-years Cristian Gioia and Nathan Faxon and sophomores Dmitry Derbedyenyev and Mo Talebi, the newest member of the team. Diaz and first-year Robert Leeds also recorded wins earlier in the matchup against NJCU.
NYU took East Stroudsburg University to close out the day. The No. 15-ranked Violets lost by a two-point margin to the Division II hosts, falling 22-20.
NYU kicked off the final match with three wins in a row after Diaz, Venezia and Carlock once again went on a victory run in their respective weight classes. ESU would catch up over the subsequent bouts, taking the lead after sophomore John Gleason fell in the 174-lb class. Gleason and Talebi would add 11 points for the Violets with their wins, but couldn’t match up to ESU after the Warriors collected six points in the heavyweight contest to close out the meet.
The wrestlers will return to the Paulson Center on Feb. 7 to celebrate the team’s alumni and take on Bridgewater State University.
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