Volleyball suffers heartbreaking 3-2 loss to North Carolina State

(boxscore)

9/17/04 -- Ivana Vasiljevic (Brcko, Bosnia & Herzegovina) dished 40 assists and fellow senior Cristina Pintilie (Cluj Napoca, Romania) added 22 kills for Long Island in a tough 3-2 (30-18, 20-30, 28-30, 30-25, 14-16) loss to North Carolina State in Conway, S.C.

The Blackbirds (6-3) came back in the fourth game thanks to 18 kills and limited the Wolfpack (9-1) to just 10. But N.C. State notched a .529 hitting percentage with 10 kills and one error in the finale vs. a .286 percentage for LIU.

The Blackbirds owned a 14-13 lead in game five with match point, but the Wolfpack rallied to tie it. Pintilie then hit into a block and sophomore Dana Demayo (Ra'anana, Israel) did likewise to end it.

Vasiljevic also added six digs and Pintilie helped the Blackbirds own a 65-63 kills advantage. Demayo and junior Lizelle Jackson (Palmdale, Calif.) each closed with 17 kills and 16 digs with junior Adela Igniska (Baja Mare, Romania) adding 12 assists and 12 digs.

Lauren Markowski dished 54 assists with Adeola Kosoko totaling 20 kills for the Wolfpack.