Basketball
The top-ranked Division III women’s basketball team finished its third consecutive undefeated regular season in an 80-58 victory over Brandeis University on Saturday at the Paulson Center.
Ahead of its final regular season game, the team celebrated senior Caroline Peper as its sole graduating player. She currently ties the program record for three-point field goals in a season at 94, three of which she scored on Saturday.
Junior Brooke Batchelor led the team with 18 points, and junior Yasmene Clark added 14 rebounds. After Batchelor scored the first two points in the second minute, the Violets never lost the lead, ahead by as much as 34 points during the second half.
The Violets will next play on March 6 for the first round of the NCAA Division III Tournament.
The men’s basketball team made its claim for a bid to the NCAAs with a 76-69 win over Brandeis in the weekend’s doubleheader.
Ahead of the game, five seniors and six graduate students were honored with plaques and flowers.
Both teams remained within four points of each other in the first half, with Brandeis taking a seven-point lead in the final three minutes. NYU managed to close the gap with back-to-back layups from graduate student Luke Kolaja by halftime.
The Violets managed to break several ties throughout the second half following two points each from Darren Rubin and Bryan Moussako to give NYU as much as a seven-point lead in the closing minutes. NYU continued to lead throughout the second half of the game to clinch the 76-69 win and fight for a bid into the NCAA tournament.
The men’s and women’s basketball teams will find out their positions in the tournament following the bracket reveal on March 2.
Fencing
The NYU men’s and women’s fencing teams celebrated Senior Day on Wednesday, hosting the George Kolombatovich Historical Meet at the Paulson Center.
Three seniors and one graduate student on the women’s team, along with five seniors from the men’s team, were honored in a pre-meet ceremony recognizing their contributions to the program.
The men opened the day with a 16-11 loss to Columbia University. Despite the early setback, the Violets rebounded in dominant fashion, securing wins in their last two matches against Vassar College and Sacred Heart University with scores of 21-6 and 22-5, respectively.
The women faced a similar result. After falling 24-3 to Columbia in their first matchup, the fencers returned to the strips with two decisive 23-4 victories over Vassar and Sacred Heart, closing out “Tear It Up!” day on a high note.
The Violets travel to Poughkeepsie, NY on March 8 to compete in the NCAA Regional Championships.
Swimming & diving
The men’s and women’s diving teams traveled to New London, CT this weekend for the NCAA Region 3 Diving Championships.
On Friday, the Violets opened competition with a strong showing in the women’s 1m event, where four divers finished in the top 15. Senior Isabella Reyes and junior Maya Williams took fifth and sixth place, respectively. Senior Meera Kasturi placed ninth, while sophomore Katherine Taylor secured 14th place. On the men’s side, sophomore Nolan Jennings earned eighth place in the 3m dive with a score of 420.20.
Action continued on Saturday with the women’s 3m and men’s 1m championship events. Reyes took fourth for the Violets with Williams, Kasturi and Taylor also placing in the top 15. Jennings closed out the weekend with an 11th-place finish.
The swimming and diving teams will travel to Indianapolis on March 18 to compete in the NCAAs.
Tennis
The women’s tennis team fell 5-2 to the Massachusetts Institute of Technology on Friday, while the men’s competition turned into a scrimmage.
NYU’s two wins came from sophomore duo Emma Kast and Victoria Wang, who won a close 7-6 set, and No. 4 singles player and sophomore Vera Bondarenko, who achieved a comeback 6-3, 6-3, 6-3 performance.
On Saturday, both teams traveled to Babson College in Wellesley, MA, where the men’s team was shut out 7-0 and the women’s team fell 4-1.
Despite the loss, the men’s first doubles pair, sophomore Bryan Hui and graduate student Niklas von Hellens, won a tightly contested 7-6 set. Von Hellens was unable to replicate the same success in his singles match and fell 6-3, 7-5.
The Violets will return to the Bronx on March 7, where the women’s team will compete against Wellesley College, and the men will face the Stevens Institute of Technology.
Track & field
The men’s and women’s track and field teams headed to Brandeis over the weekend to compete in the UAA Indoor Championships.
Both teams placed last out of seven teams on the first day. In the men’s 1-mile race, junior Liam Hagerty, first-year Theodore Udelson-Nee and sophomore Huckleberry Oakes finished in second, third and fifth, respectively. Sophomores Katharine Frank, Gianna Dawson, Rina Kurihara and Stella Kuttner placed third out of seven teams in the women’s 4000m distance medley relay with a time of 11:47.29
Day two of the championships saw first-year Alexa McMillan take second out of 15 athletes in the triple jump with a distance of 11.48 meters. Kuttner, graduate student Katherine Cochran and senior Janie Cooper placed second, third and fifth in the women’s 3000m, respectively.
Both teams placed last out of seven teams on the first day of competition. As the meet concluded, the men’s team placed sixth while the women’s team placed seventh in the final standings.
The teams will head to Tufts University in Boston, MA for the Last Chance Meet on March 6 and 7.
Volleyball
The No. 8-ranked men’s volleyball team dominated New Jersey City University on Thursday in a 3-0 sweep.
After obtaining a 5-2 lead, the Violets didn’t trail for the rest of the first set and won 25-18. In the second, the teams exchanged a series of 17 rallies and tied multiple times throughout the start of the set. The Violets reached 24-16, but the Gothic Knights’ five saves prevented the team from securing the win until junior Emerson Evans closed out the set 25-21.
NYU didn’t trail once during the final set, winning with a comfortable 25-14 lead for its third sweep of the season. Evans led the team with 12 kills and three aces, while first-years Veer Agarwal and Charlie Clifford trailed with six and five kills, respectively.
The team will return to the Paulson Center to host Stevens on March 3.
Wrestling
The Violets competed at the NCAA Northeast Regionals hosted by The College of New Jersey on Friday and Saturday, placing fourth out of 21 teams on day one before rising up to second on day two.
The top three wrestlers from each weight class earned a spot for the NCAA National Championships in mid-March.
On day one, sophomore Alexander Diaz, senior Jacob Venezia and graduate students Ty Finn and Justin Mayes found success in their bouts in the main bracket while first-year Nathan Faxon, sophomore Mo Talebi and senior Nicky Bell finished the day in the consolation bracket.
The Violets delivered one of the most successful results in program history the following day. Six wrestlers qualified for nationals, with three of them rising up through the consolation bracket.
Diaz was dominant throughout the day and won the regional title for the 125-pound class, finishing his regular season with a 29-0 record. Venezia, Finn, Mayes, Bell, Talebi and Faxon advanced to the national tournament and will compete in Cedar Rapids, IA, on March 12.
Contact Emily Barbire and Sherry Chen at [email protected].