Wagner Posts First Career Triple-Double as Volleyball Tops Maine, 3-1; Victory Extends Winning Streak to Six

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10/21/06 -- Junior Martina Wagner (Friedrichshafen, Germany) registered her first career triple-double as the Long Island University volleyball team survived an early scare and extended its winning streak to six games with a 3-1 (27-30, 30-24, 30-24, 30-17) win over Maine. The junior outside hitter tallied 25 kills, 10 digs and 10 aces while hitting .365 for the match.

Sophomore Martina Racic (Pula, Croatia) also had a solid game with 13 kills and eight digs, while teammate Shelby Heggie (Laramie, Wyo.) added 12 kills. Freshman Svetlana Simic (Klek, Serbia) contributed a team-high 15 digs.

The Blackbirds (17-9) trailed early in the first game but used an eight-point run to take a 16-13 lead. Wagner had four aces during the run. Maine (4-16) kept it close and eventually retook the lead at 27-26 and held on for the win.

Long Island regrouped in a back-and-forth second frame and, with the game tied at 11, scored 10 of the next 13 points to build a lead. The Blackbirds fought off a Maine surge to preserve a 30-24 win. After winning the third game by the same margin, LIU jumped out to a 12-4 lead in game four and never looked back, cruising to a 30-17 win.

The game one loss was the first one for the Blackbirds since Oct. 3 against Seton Hall, a stretch of 15 individual games. Long Island held the edges in kills, 66-47, and hit .309 for the match. Maine hit .158 as a team. Brittany Kiehl led the Black Bears with 13 kills and Jody Connacher had a match-high 19 digs.

Long Island will return to the road on Friday, Oct. 27 when the Blackbirds visit Pittsburgh at 5:00 p.m.