Volleyball
clinches second place in NEC with victories over
Central Conn. St. and Quinnipiac |
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11/14/04 -- Long Island clinched second place in the Northeast Conference to tie a school best and ran its winning streak to a team-record eight straight with victories over Central Connecticut State on Saturday and Quinnipiac on Sunday. The Blackbirds rallied for a 3-2 victory (32-34, 30-22, 30-25, 25-30, 15-13) Saturday over the Blue Devils before rolling to a 3-0 triumph (30-16, 30-28, 30-25) Sunday at the Bobcats. The eight-match winning streak breaks the mark of seven set two seasons ago as the team closed second for the second time in three years. By defeating Central Connecticut St., LIU (29-6, 7-1 NEC) clinched the No. 2 seed for next weekend's NEC Tournament in Moon Township, Pa. and a first-round bye. The Blackbirds advance to the semifinals this Saturday at 4:00 pm against the winner of the first-round match between No. 3 Central Connecticut State and the sixth-seeded opponent to be determined. LIU on Saturday ended game five with an 11-6 run to defeat CCSU for just the second time in 10 meetings. Junior Melanie Fleig (Villingen, Germany) posted three kills in that run and ended the match with 21. The Blackbirds notched a .312 hitting percentage and held the Blue Devils to .143 Senior Cristina Pintilie (Cluj Napoca, Romania) ended with 21 kills and 13 kills, junior Lizelle Jackson (Palmdale, Calif.) added 13 and 19 and senior Ivana Vasiljevic (Brcko, Bosnia & Herzegovina) dished 56 assists. Against Quinnipiac, LIU took control in game one by pounding 15 kills with a .333 hitting percentage. The Bobcats were limited to a .143 percentage and committed four errors. Jackson ended with 13 kills and 10 digs for her 14th double-double this season and Pintilie contributed 12 kills. Vasiljevic dished 24 assists and added seven digs. The Blackbirds ended with 49 kills and a .236 hitting percentage. The Bobcats were limited to 33 kills and a .134 percentage. |
