Volleyball posts two victories at the LIU Tri-Match

(vs. Delaware St.) / (Delaware St. vs. Wagner) / (vs. Wagner)

9/1/2004 -- Junior Jade Gold (Jupiter, Fla.) enjoyed an impressive debut and two All-Northeast Conference performers continued to shine as Long Island swept two matches in the LIU Tri-Match at Schwartz Center to open the season.

The Blackbirds rolled to 3-0 victories over Delaware State (30-20, 30-19, 30-12) and Wagner (30-18, 30-15, 30-8) in the debut of Toby Rens as head coach. In between, Delaware State notched a 3-0 triumph (30-24, 30-28, 30-18) against Wagner.

Gold played impressively against Delaware State with six kills and just one error over eight attacks for a .625 hitting percentage. She also had six aces, falling only three shy of the school record set by Loressa Berona against the University of Maryland Eastern Shore on September 24, 1999.

Reigning NEC Player of the Year Cristina Pintilie (Cluj Napoca, Romania) pounded nine kills and fellow first-team member Ivana Vasiljevic (Brcko, Bosnia & Herzegovina) dished 29 assists. Pintilie and junior Lizelle Jackson (Palmdale, Calif.) each had four aces to help the Blackbirds close with 16.

Last season’s NEC Rookie of the Year Dana Demayo (Ra’anana, Israel) added eight kills and six digs for LIU (2-0), which notched a .333 percentage vs. -.053 for the Hornets.

Dawn Alford dished 14 assists for Delaware State.

The Hornets (1-1) fared much better in the second match, rolling with a .310 hitting percentage in game three against .059 for the Seahawks. Alford finished with 28 assists and 11 digs, Desiree Abeyta had a team-high 15 digs and Kinga Muszynski notched 10 kills.

Molly Judge paced Wagner with 11 kills and 11 digs with Lydia Emnott posting 27 assists.

LIU kept the momentum going in the final match as Demayo posted 11 kills with Gold and Pintilie adding 10 apiece. Pintilie has played impressively in five matches against Wagner, notching 74 kills and just seven errors over 110 attacks for a startling .609 hitting percentage.

Vasiljevic dished 31 assists and contributed eight digs for LIU, which dominated with a .526 hitting percentage thanks to 46 kills and only five errors over 78 attacks in the 64-minute match.

Judge pounded five kills and Emnott added seven assists for Wagner.

LIU is on the road its next 20 matches, beginning Friday against Sacred Heart at the SHU Tournament in Fairfield, Conn.