Volleyball ties school single-season record for most victories with 3-0 triumph over La Salle

(boxscore)

10/19/04 -- Sophomore Dana Demayo (Ra’anana, Israel) pounded 16 kills and senior Cristina Pintilie (Cluj Napoca, Romania) added 11 for Long Island, which tied the school’s single-season wins record with a 3-0 victory over La Salle (30-11, 30-25, 30-27) at Schwartz Center.

The Blackbirds (21-5) took control early to match their victory total from 2002, when they played in the Northeast Conference final. They recorded 20 kills with an astounding .581 hitting percentage, holding the Explorers (8-16) to seven and .067.

LIU ended the match with a 51-28 kills edge and a .292 hitting percentage for its second six-match winning streak of the year, one victory shy of the school record from two seasons ago. It also enjoyed a 44-35 margin in digs and served 12 aces, four behind the single-match high from this season.

Demayo played solidly at the net with a .344 hitting percentage and Pintilie posted a .526 percentage with just one error over 19 attacks. Two-time reigning NEC Player of the Week Ivana Vasiljevic (Brcko, Bosnia & Herzegovina) posted 34 assists with nine digs and junior Melanie Fleig (Villingen, Germany) added eight kills and nine digs for LIU, which ended the match in 73 minutes.

Kristen Kelsey (Buda, Texas) notched 10 kills, Amanda Woods (Cincinnati, Ohio) posted 24 assists and Carolyn Judge (West Chester, Pa.) added 10 digs for the Explorers.

LIU goes for the record Saturday, when it faces defending NEC champion Robert Morris in Moon Township, Pa. First serve is at 1:00 pm.