Sacred Heart
15-14, 9-5NEC
LIU Brooklyn
14-12, 12-2NEC
SHU's Season Ends in Four-Set Loss in NEC Semifinals
11/21/2015 12:00:00 AM | Women's Volleyball
BROOKLYN – The 2015 Sacred Heart women's volleyball season came to an end on Saturday afternoon in the a hard fought four set Northeast Conference semifinal loss to three-time defending champion LIU Brooklyn. The Pioneers end their season at 15-14, the first winning mark for the program since its 2011 NEC Championship season.
Trailing by two sets after a thrilling 29-27 first set and 25-17 second, SHU forced a four set with a 25-21 victory in the third. LIU Brooklyn led by as much as four early, but the Pioneers stormed back with five straight points to take its first lead at 14-13 after a Tori Kemper kill. This forced an LIU timeout, and it was all Blackbirds from there as they scored the next six points to ultimately seal the victory. Five of the six points came on Sacred Heart errors, and the Pioneers would get no closer than four points the remainder of the match.
LIU Brooklyn outhit SHU .229-.136 and also dominated at the net, holding a 16-6 block advantage, led by five from Mengdi Zhao's five and Nicole Okeke's 4.5. Tamara Ignjic led three Blackbirds in double digits kills with 19, followed by Alex Larsen and Mirjana Rajic with 13 and 11 respectively. Adriana Vinas Joy had a match-high 28 digs.
Senior Bruna Bon ended her career with a career and team-high 18 kills, adding 14 digs for 11th double double of the season. NEC Player of the Year Sarah Krufka also had 18 kills, moving into second place all-time on SHU's single season list with 466. Second-Team All-NEC performer Kemper added ten digs and 16 digs, while Ana Gonzalez led the Pioneers with 18 digs, her second highest output of the season. Kiki Robinson had a team-high 29 assists to go along with 11 digs for her team-leading 13th double double of the year.
How it Happened
- First Set- There were 13 ties in the set, with the largest lead for either team only reaching three, and both teams had their highest hitting percentage set of the match with LIU holding a .306-.236 edge. Five times LIU Brooklyn led by that margin of three, including as late as 22-19. Sacred Heart would fight back with three straight points though, tying it at 22 on a Kemper kill and the set would stay within one point until the LIU finally won. SHU staved off five set points before a Blackbird block and Pioneer error sealed the 29-27 final.
- Second Set- After four ties early, LIU Brooklyn took control with five straight points to go ahead 11-5. The Pioneers would get no closer than five throughout the rest of the set.
- Third Set – Sacred Heart broke a 3-3 tie and would lead the remainder of the set. After back-to-back kills by Krufka made it 14-10, LIU would get as close as two three times, the last coming at 18-16. The Pioneers answered with the next four points, including kills by Krufka and Allison Riggs, and would hold on to force the fourth set.
