Volleyball Sweeps Rutgers at Harvard Invitational

(boxscore)

9/8/06 --Coming off a 3-0 victory over NJIT, the Long Island University volleyball team (4-4) repeated that feat with a 3-0 (34-32, 30-19, 30-23) sweep of Rutgers at the Harvard University Invitational. Junior Martina Wagner (Friedrichshafen, Germany) led a pair of Blackbirds in double-figure kills with 18 and added 13 digs for her sixth double-double of the season.

Long Island needed 34 points to close out Rutgers in a closely-contested first game. The Blackbirds trailed early, but came back to open up a four-point lead. The Scarlet Knights fought back to repeatedly tie the game before Junior Toni Perhat’s (Roviny, Croatia) kill put game one away for LIU.

The Blackbirds had an easier time in game two, using four separate four-point runs to put distance between the two teams. Rutgers kept game three a bit closer, but LIU held them off to secure its second-consecutive sweep.

Junior Shelby Heggie (Laramie, Wyo.) chipped in 14 kills for the Blackbirds and hit .448 for the match. Classmate Jasmine Perez (Kingwood, Texas) led LIU with 14 digs. As a team, Long Island hit .302, and outhit the Scarlet Knights 59-42.

Rutgers hit .256 for the match, led by Lora Yankauskas’ game high 17 kills and 19 digs.

The Blackbirds will wrap up play at the Harvard University Invitational tomorrow when they face Harvard at 10:00 a.m., and Binghamton at 7:00 p.m.