Baseball
The No. 6-ranked NYU baseball team split a four-game series against No. 5-ranked Case Western Reserve University in Staten Island over the weekend.
NYU played an offense-heavy match on Friday, with CWRU opening the first inning with four runs, after which graduate student Kosta Mocklis — the UAA’s current home run leader — scored his seventh home run of the season. The Spartans extended their lead to 7-1 in the top of the second inning, but the Violets responded in the bottom half by scoring seven runs. By the bottom of the seventh, the teams were tied 10-10, but NYU pulled ahead to take the game by two runs.
The Violets split a doubleheader the next day, dominating the first game but narrowly dropping the second. The first game saw a 10-0 run-rule win after NYU took an early 4-0 lead in the second inning. An offensive back-and-forth marked the second game, with the Spartans mostly keeping the lead in the first half followed by the Violets taking a 7-5 lead in the bottom of the sixth. CWRU lined up with NYU in the ninth, then took the lead to win 8-7 in the final inning.
On Sunday, the team celebrated its graduating athletes in a postgame ceremony, where the eight players received plaques and flowers. In a rainy conclusion to the series, the Violets dropped the fourth game 12-9. Falling behind 9-2 early, the home team regained some ground with seven runs in the final few innings but couldn’t catch up for the lead. Mocklis recorded 13 of NYU’s 27 putouts, and senior Max Oliveira scored two runs.
The Violets will face the No. 1-ranked University of Chicago from April 24-26 for their final UAA matchup of the season.
Golf
The men’s golf team finished fifth out of seven at the FSC Bethpage Black Invitational hosted by Farmingdale State College on Thursday, posting an overall score of +32. First-year Tanmay Chandra topped NYU’s chart with a +5 and ended with an overall placement of fifth out of 40 golfers.
Over the weekend, the team headed back to Nassau County to compete in FSC’s Spring Invitational. The Violets closed out Saturday with a +2 to place sixth out of 16 teams. Chandra recorded a -1 to score 11th of 96 golfers, while fellow first-year Qi Liu placed 19th, finishing the day on par.
The Violets left the invitational on Sunday in fifth place with a +15. First-year Jia Yu Zhou led NYU in individual rankings, finishing in 20th with a score of +3, followed by sophomore Oscar Uribe in 24th with +5, and Chandra and Liu tied for 30th with +6.
The team will return to the green on Friday for the first round of the Liberty League Championship in Verona, NY.
Softball
The softball team traveled to Pittsburgh for the weekend, where they dropped a series of UAA conference matches against Carnegie Mellon University.
The first day saw a slow start for both teams until CMU scored two runs in both the third and sixth innings. NYU remained scoreless throughout the game, which ended 4-0.
The Violets dropped the next day’s doubleheader 13-4 and 17-0. In the first game, CMU opened the scoring with two runs in the bottom of the first. NYU briefly took the lead in the third inning with three runs, but CMU quickly regained it to dominate for the remainder of the game. In the second match, the team’s 11 runs in the first inning were just the start of a 17-0 shutout of the Violets.
The softball team will take the field again on Wednesday for a doubleheader against FSC.
Tennis
The women’s tennis team dominated the court 5-2 in the Bronx on Saturday, facing Brandeis University for Senior Day. The day’s first victory was claimed 6-3 by the No. 3 duo of first-year Sophia Wright and sophomore Norah Staunton.
Both No. 1-ranked singles player and first-year Visnja Gusavac along with No. 2 singles player and sophomore Victoria Wang rallied to win their matches in three sets after losing the second 2-6 and 1-6, respectively. No. 6 singles player and one of two celebrated seniors, Aditi Narayan, took a 6-4, 6-2 victory.
On Tuesday, the men’s team fell 5-2 against Division II St. Thomas Aquinas College, losing all of its doubles sets. No. 1 singles player and graduate student Niklas von Hellens was able to snag a 0-6, 6-2, 6-3 comeback. NYU’s second victory came from No. 3 singles player and junior Louis Frowein’s hard-fought 6-3, 3-6, 7-6 win.
The Violets were narrowly defeated 4-3 by Skidmore College on Saturday. NYU was able to claim the doubles point after wins from the No. 1 pairing — von Hellens and sophomore Bryan Hui — and the No. 3 pairing of Frowein and sophomore Boris Slesarev. Frowein and von Hellens, both of whom won their singles matches in two sets, also gave NYU two more points.
The team fell 4-3 again the following day to Brandeis, though started strong with a point from 6-4 wins by the No. 1 and No. 3 doubles pairs. Slesarev also won his No. 3 singles match in two sets while No. 5 singles player and senior Shido Ito won his match 7-6, 3-6, 1-0.
The men’s and women’s teams will begin competing at the UAA Championships in Altamonte Springs, FL, on Thursday and Friday, respectively.
Track & field
The men’s and women’s track and field teams split squads to compete at two individuals toward the end of last week.
Just three Violets — first-year Theodore Udelson-Nee, junior Josephine Dziedzic and graduate student Katherine Cochran — traveled to Winston-Salem, NC, for the Wake Forest Invitational on Thursday and Friday, all of whom posted personal best times. Udelson-Nee recorded NYU’s best finish of the meet, taking seventh in the men’s 5000m run with a time of 13:56.49. In the women’s 5000m, Cochran landed at No. 11 with a time of 16:34.94, and Dziedzic rounded it out in 14th with a time of 16:37.02.
Fourteen Violets competed at the Paul Donahue Invitational, hosted by Widener University in Chester, PA, on Friday and Saturday. First-year Alexa McMillian had an outstanding meet, earning second place in both the women’s triple jump with a distance of 11.59m and the women’s long jump with a 5.55m finish. Senior Emma Grunin performed well in the women’s javelin throw, taking second with a distance of 43.65m.
NYU’s runners found success on the final day of competition. Junior Beverly Okyere, senior Areyanna McCarthy and first-years McMillian and Adrianna Kosmont placed 10th of 41 teams in the women’s 4x100m relay. Junior Flynt Whitworth finished 18th of 58 in the men’s 200m.
The Violets will take on the UAA Outdoor Championships in Cleveland this coming weekend.
Volleyball
The men’s volleyball season came to a close on Friday after the team fell 3-0 to the State University of New York, New Paltz in the NCAA D-III Tournament’s round of 16.
The first set saw a strong start from both teams, with neither leading by more than three points throughout the frame. The Violets held a late lead of 21-18 before the Hawks scored four consecutive points to retake it 22-21. A series of close rallies followed, and SUNY New Paltz claimed the set 28-26.
The Hawks took a large 16-6 lead in the second set and continued charging to win 25-15. NYU managed to gain an early 5-3 lead in the final set, but a 7-1 run saw SUNY New Paltz claim the lead, which the team held for the rest of the frame. The Violets lost the final set 25-18, ending the season with an overall record of 19-7.
Contact Sherry Chen, Sayako Ikeda and Kiran Komanduri at [email protected].