BOSTON, Mass. – The No. 8 Wentworth Institute of Technology men's volleyball team battled back from an 0-2 deficit, but fell to the No. 10 Violets of New York University (NYU), 3-2, on Saturday afternoon inside Tansey Gymnasium.
The Leopards drop to 4-2 this season, while the Violets climb above .500 at 3-2.
Both teams battled back and forth in the opening set, as the Violets just clipped the Leopards 25-23. NYU came flying out of the gates in set two, and jumped to a 10-5 lead on a kill from sophomore Neil Ferraro (Newton, Mass.). After a Wentworth timeout, sophomore Evan Lindley (Evanston, Ill.) took the service line, as NYU scored the next five of six points for a 15-6 lead. Wentworth turned a 4-0 run, including a service ace by junior Jesse Lefler (Rochester, N.Y.), that forced an NYU timeout with the Violets up 16-10. NYU ran with a 4-0 charge to end the second set, 25-16, as both teams headed into set three.
Senior Ollie Oshman (Pennington, N.J.) opened the third set with a kill off the hands of classmate Collin Ritter (Feeding Hills, Mass.), and Wentworth carried momentum for a 6-1 run, forcing a visitors' timeout. A pair of WIT attack errors and a kill apiece from sophomores Alex Li (Cupertino, Calif.) and Martin Bikdeli (Irvine, Calif.) pulled NYU within three 8-5, before Li tied it up 10-10. Sophomore Josh Jackson (Massillon, Ohio) subbed in for the Leopards to take the serve, and carried Wentworth to a 16-10 lead. NYU crawled back in the closing plays, as a service ace from Li cut the setback to two, 24-22. A bad set gave NYU another point on the board, but senior Jon Roat (Rochester, N.Y.) smashed a kill to complete the set win 25-23.
The fourth set witnessed seven ties before Roat swung into two monster kills to give Wentworth an 18-17 advantage. Wentworth scored the following five of seven points to gain a 23-19 lead, but NYU strung four points together to again deadlock the score 23-23. Ritter served up an Oshman kill to give Wentworth match point at 24-23, as Roat put the set away with a heavy swing, 25-23.
NYU used .500 hitting with just one error on 12 swings to take the deciding set, 15-6. Up 9-6 after a kill from Ritter, Lindley remained on the service line for the game's remainder to close the match on a 6-0 run.
Ritter registered his second triple-double of the season with a team-high 16 kills, 19 assists, and 12 digs. Roat followed with 13 kills and four aces, while Oshman swung into eight kills.
Lindley and Li tallied 16 kills apiece in the win for NYU, as Lindley produced a .538 hitting percentage to lead the Violet attack. Ferraro rounded out double-digit kills with 12, while sophomore Conor Keowen (Sam Ramon, Calif.) paced the Violets defensively with 11 digs.
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Wentworth returns to Tansey Gymnasium for its next match on Thursday, February 1 when it hosts Endicott College at 7:00 p.m.