Volleyball's Nine-Game Winning Streak Snapped in 3-1 Loss to Temple

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11/5/05 -- The Long Island University volleyball team lost a four-game showdown against Temple Saturday night at the Schwartz Center (19-30, 30-20, 27-30, 26-30), snapping its nine-game winning streak. The last time the Blackbirds lost was at home to No. 7 Louisville on Oct. 8th.

Leading the LIU attack was senior Jade Gold (Jupiter, Fla.), who tallied 17 kills on .353 hitting. Classmate Lizelle Jackson (Palmdale, Calif.) marked her second consecutive double-double (15 kills, 13 digs) and 18th this season. Sophomore Martina Wagner (Friedrichshafen, Germany) also registered a double-double with 11 kills and 11 digs.

Temple outpowered the Blackbirds right from the get-go, boasting a .375 hitting percentage in the first game to LIU’s .075, en route to an easy 30-19 first-game victory.

An ace from senior Adela Igniska (Baia Mare, Romania) got the Blackbirds back on track and tied game two, 5-5. LIU pushed to a nine point lead later (27-18) and finished the game with a Gold kill from Vasiljevic, 30-20.

Games three and four remained close, each producing several ties lead changes. The Blackbirds went on a 5-1 run to start game three but could not hold off Temple, losing the game by three. Errors plagued both teams throughout, butt the Owls dropped LIU in the fourth contest (30-26), clinching the match.

Temple was paced by Yue Liu’s 14 kills. Zhen Jia Liu collected 13 kills and eight digs, while Maira Mogollon notched a match-high 36 assists. The Owls improve to 19-9 on the season.

The Blackbirds will be back in action on Saturday, Nov. 12 with a doubleheader. LIU travels to Northeast Conference neighbor Saint Francis (N.Y.) at 11:00 a.m., then hosts Georgetown at 3:00 p.m.