Volleyball Drops Two at Maryland Tournament

(UCLA boxscore)
(FIU boxscore)

9/16/06 -- The Long Island University volleyball team suffered a pair of losses to close out its appearance in the Hilton Garden Inn Greenbelt Invitational, hosted by Maryland. The Blackbirds lost to No. 3 UCLA 3-0 (30-20, 30-25, 30-14) before dropping a tight match to Florida International 3-2 (28-30, 30-18, 25-30, 30-18, 15-7).

In the nightcap, the Blackbirds took the first game by a narrow 30-28 margin, only to see Florida International fight back in game two. The Golden Panthers used an early 8-2 lead to put distance between the teams, and managed to hold off Long Island. The Blackbirds never lead in game two, tying the game only once.

Long Island (6-7) edged out the Golden Panthers in game three in another closely-contested game that saw no team lead by more than six points. The fourth game was similar to the second, with Florida International again jumping out to an early lead and refusing to let the Blackbirds fight back, as FIU held on to win by another 30-18 margin.

Despite scoring the first three points in the deciding game, the Blackbirds could not seal the deal. Florida International battled back to tie the game at three and then scored 12 of the last 16 points to win the match.

Long Island was outhit by a 70-58 margin, and hit .119 for the game, compared to FIU’s .269. Junior Shelby Heggie (Laramie, Wyo.) led three Blackbirds in double-figure kills, with 16. Classmates Martina Wagner (Friedrichshafen, Germany) and Toni Perhat (Porec, Croatia) contributed 15 and 12 kills, respectively. Florida International’s Olga Vergun led all players with 26 kills.

Earlier in the day, the Blackbirds were outhit 52-30 by UCLA. The Bruins hit .398 for the match, while LIU hit .101 as a team.

UCLA (13-0) took game one by a 30-20 margin. The Bruins led early, but Long Island came back to take a 10-7 lead. That lead would not last long, as UCLA eventually knotted the game at 11 before unfurling a 16-6 run that would do in the Blackbirds. Long Island kept it close in game two, but came out on the losing side of the ledger, 30-25. The Bruins took a 15-5 lead in the third stanza and didn’t look back en route to a 30-14 win.

Wagner led the Blackbirds with eight kills, while Nana Meriwether and Katie Carter each tallied a game-high 12 kills for UCLA.

The Blackbirds will return to action on Friday, Sept. 22, when they host the LIU Courtyard by Marriot LaGuardia Tournament. Long Island will take on San Francisco at 3:00 p.m.