 "Photo: File Photo")
Riding one of the best post-season streaks in its history, the NYU men's volleyball team was finally forced to yield on Thursday after losing to Pennsylvania State University 3-0 in the EIVA Tournament semifinals in University Park, Pa.
Penn State (27-1), the top-ranked ranked team in Division-I since March 17, went on to win the tournament for the 10th consecutive year by sweeping George Mason University in Saturday's championship match.
NYU (23-8) put up ample resistance to the Nittany Lions' near-perfect routine, trailing just 15-14, 15-12 and 15-14 midway through each of the three games. Eventually, however, Penn State's endurance proved that of a No. 1-ranked team and the Violets suffered accordingly: 30-22, 30-21, 30-20.
Junior tri-captain Devin Zolnowski recorded double-digit kills for the seventh straight match, putting down 10 to lead the Violets' offense. Senior tri-captain Jonathan Wintermeyer was also impressive, hitting a team-best .429 with six kills and no errors.
Wintermeyer concludes his NYU career with 1,032 kills, the third most by an NYU player during the rally-scoring era, which began in 2001.
The Violets managed only 11 digs on defense, their lowest total of the season. Senior tri-captain David Tener had two of them, completing his career with an NYU rally-scoring record 693.
Penn State hit .592 as a team, led by Matt Anderson's 20 kills on just 25 attempts. Max Holt added 16 kills while hitting .789 for the Nittany Lions.
NYU was playing in its first-ever EIVA Final Four, which it reached by upsetting the No. 4 and No. 5 seeds in back-to-back matches. With their first-round win over Juniata College, the Violets, seeded eighth in the eight-team tournament, became the first EIVA Hay Division team to beat a team from the league's Tait Division in the history of the tournament. Two days later, they matched the achievement in the quarterfinals against Division-I rival St. Francis College.
Mason Felton-Reid is sports editor. E-mail him at mfeltonreid@nyunews.com.
