ELMIRA, N.Y. – The Elmira College men's volleyball team began United Volleyball Conference play on a strong note, knocking off the #10 nationally-ranked Violets from New York University on Sunday afternoon, 3-2, in what proved to be a five-set thriller. With the win, the Soaring Eagles are off to its best start in program history after beginning the season 6-1 in both 2022 as well as 2016.
After taking the first set in what would be considered the most comfortable fashion of the afternoon (25-16), the Soaring Eagles would go on to drop the second set before back-and-forth action forced a fifth, which Elmira would eventually go on to win 15-12.
Alberto Mauricio '25 finished with a career-best 31 kills, while the Soaring Eagles went on to defeat the Violets for the first time since the 2014 season after suffering a 1-3 loss exactly a year ago. Additionally, the win marks the second consecutive season that the Soaring Eagles have downed a nationally-ranked opponent inside Speidel Gymnasium after defeating #14 St. John Fisher last season (3-2).
JUST THE BASICS:
Location: Elmira, N.Y. | Speidel Gymnasium
Score: Elmira: 3, #10 NYU: 2
Records: Elmira: (7-1, 1-0 UVC), NYU (8-4, 1-1 UVC)
The Soaring Eagles posted a 25-16 first set victory after out-killing the Violets, 17-10. With the home squad posting a sideout percentage of 82.0% (14-of-17), Elmira was able to hit .375 as a squad, paced by Mauricio with seven kills.
The second set proved to be the lone of the first four that the Soaring Eagles were unable to reach 20+ points in a frame after suffering a 25-19 setback.
With the match tied at 1-1, Elmira would produce a set-best 19 kills in the third compared to just 12 for NYU on its way to a 25-23 victory, taking a 2-1 lead in the match. In the fourth, Elmira would trail 23-19 before scoring four consecutive points to tie the set. Remaining tied at 24-24, the Violets would eventually go on to secure the set and force a fifth following an Elmira service error and attacking error.
The fifth would go back-and-forth, much like the remainder of the match which featured a total of 24 ties and five lead changes, with eight of its ties coming in the final frame. The Soaring Eagles trailed just once in the set, and capped the victory with an NYU service error to take the match 3-2.
For the contest, Elmira would hit .317 as a team compared to .316 for NYU. In addition to Mauricio, the Soaring Eagles received double-digit kills from both Edwin Sosa '25 (11) and Oscar Munoz Trinidad '23 (16). Max Cohen would round out the Soaring Eagles with 56 assists, while Elmira produced seven blocks as a team.
UP NEXT:
The Soaring Eagles will return to Speidel Gymnasium on Wednesday when taking on the No. 9 ranked Golden Flyers from Nazareth College. The contest will go down as a non-conference matchup, with the two teams slated to play on the campus of Nazareth College in its UVC match on March 8.
