 9/11/06 --For
the second time in three weeks, a pair of Long Island University
volleyball players were recognized for their outstanding efforts,
as junior Shelby Heggie (Laramie, Wyo.) was named Northeast
Conference Player of the Week and freshman Svetlana Simic (Klek,
Serbia) earned Rookie of the Week honors. The awards cap off
a successful week for the Blackbirds, who swept four-straight
games and won the Harvard University Invitational.
Heggie tallied 67 kills, 10 blocks, seven digs and four aces while
hitting an outstanding .475 last week. In a 3-0 win over NJIT to
start the week, the Wyoming native hit .478 with 13 kills, two
blocks and one dig. Over the weekend, she was named to the Harvard
Invitational All-Tournament team after averaging 6.0 kills per
game. In opening match action, Heggie tallied 14 kills, two blocks,
one ace, one dig and one assist while hitting .448 against Rutgers.
On Saturday, she opened the day with 19 kills, three blocks, one
ace and a .438 hitting percentage in the win over Harvard and rounded
out the tournament with 21 kills, five digs, three blocks, two
aces and a .529 hitting percentage against Binghamton. For the
week, the junior middle blocker averaged 5.58 kills per game and
0.83 blocks per game and on the year, ranks fifth in the NEC in
hitting percentage (.316) and kills (3.67 kpg) and eighth in blocks
(0.85 bpg).
Simic takes home her second NEC Rookie of the Week Award this season
after averaging 4.58 digs, 2.58 kills and 0.58 service aces while
hitting .299 in four wins for the Blackbirds last week. She notched
a double-double (11 kills and 11 digs) and hit .500 in the 3-0
win over NJIT to start the week.
At the Harvard Invitational, she came up with double digit
digs in all three matches, with 11 against Rutgers, 15 against
Harvard and a match-high 18 in the win over Binghamton. She also
added four service aces, three assists and three kills versus Rutgers,
10 kills, two aces and one block in the win over the host Crimson
and seven kills, three assists and one ace against Binghamton.
Simic leads LIU and ranks third in the league in digs with 4.12
digs per game.
The Blackbirds will return to action on Friday, Sept. 15, when
they travel to College Park, Md., to take part in the Hilton Garden
Inn Greenbelt Invitational. Long Island will open against host
Maryland at 7:00 p.m.
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