Led by 17th-year head coach Jose Pina, the NYU men's volleyball team finished 6-17, facing a grueling schedule which featured 11 matches against Division I opponents in addition to another 11 matches against teams ranked in the Bison/American Volleyball Coaches Association (AVCA) Division III Men's Coaches Top 15 Poll.
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The Violets opened the season with a 3-0 loss to Division I St. Francis University. Following losses to Stevens Institute of Technology and Division I Rutgers-Newark University, NYU picked up its first win of the season, a 3-0 victory at Vassar College. In that match, Violet freshman Cooper Gwaltney netted a career-high 16 kills to go along with 10 digs. Teammate and senior captain Mike Ferragonio added 12 kills, five digs and two service aces.
“We were finally able to put together a good hitting and a good serving match for the first time this year,” Pina said after the team's inaugural win of the season. “That combination finally allowed us to get over the hump and get our first victory.”
On February 24th, NYU avenged its earlier loss by defeating Stevens Tech 3-1. At the Wisconsin Invitational, the Violets cruised to a 3-0 victory over the College of Mount St. Joseph. NYU then concluded its season sweep of Vassar by defeating the Brewers 3-1 on March 23.
The Violets ended the season with its first winning streak of the year, defeating Harvard University 3-2 on Family Day and then shutting out the New Jersey Institute of Technology 3-0. Both opponents had defeated NYU earlier in the season.
Individually, sophomore Pat Dodd led the Violets with 225 kills during the season. He also finished first in service aces (32), third in digs (85), and fourth in blocks (35).
Junior captain Fran Hodgson finished first in blocks (92), third in kills (207) and third in service aces (20). Sophomore Luke Hamlet finished behind Hodgson with 52 blocks on the season.
Sophomore captain Jay Hayes led the squad with 165 digs, while junior captain Ori Oren was the top performer in set assists with 506. Freshman Trevor Salter also made an impact with 388 set assists.
Ferragonio was the lone senior on the team, and he made significant contributions. He finished second on the team in kills (222), only three behind the leader, while notching 119 digs, 32 blocks and 26 service aces.
Career-wise, Ferragonio finished fifth on the Violets' all-time list with 66 service aces, eighth with 91 matches played and ninth with 693 kills during the rally-scoring era.
Off the court, Ferragonio capped off his career by being named to the Eastern Intercollegiate Volleyball Association (EIVA) All-Academic Team for the second time.
