The Sacred Heart University volleyball team won for a third straight time, sweeping Northeast Conference host, Fairleigh Dickinson University Friday evening. The victory improves the Pioneers to 8-11 overall and 5-2 in NEC play, while the Knights fall to 1-20 on the season and 0-7 in league play.

The Pioneers trailed just once, 2-1 in the first set, and after taking a 9-8 first-set lead, never trailed again.. Liisel Nelis led the Pioneers with 16 kills, hitting .306, 13 digs and four assists.

The Pioneers travel to Hartford on Sunday evening, before returning home to host Merrimack at 6:00 pm Tuesday.

Turning Point

• The Pioneers broke an 8-8 first set tie with four straight points and never looked back, winning the set 25-18
• SHU opened the second set with three straight points and jumped out to a 10-4 start on the way to a 25-11 set win

By The Numbers

• The Pioneers hit .302 for the match with 55 kills, spread across six different players
• Sarah Ciszek finished 45 assist and five kills
• Lillian Varga finished with a team-best 20 digs, followed by the 15 of Emma Smallcomb
• The double-double was the ninth of the season for Nelis
• Reghan Palanchi had nine kills to hit .375, while Makayla Dole finished with eight kills and hit .538
• FDU hit .080, with 20 kills and 12 kills on 100 attempts

First Set: SHU 25, FDU 18

• Three hitting errors started the match as FDU took an eary 2-1 lead, its only lead of the match
• Nelis recorded her first kill to knot the score 2-2 and start a 3-0 SHU run
• The Knights would battle back, tying the score 5-5 and again at 8-8
• A Palanchi kill gave SHU a 9-8 lead, and started a 4-0 run
• FDU answered with three straight points, and the Knights remained within a point, through a Magdelena Maksimovic kill, making the score 16-15
• SHU won a challenge to make the score 17-15, keying a run of five consecutive points for the Pioneers, to open a 21-15 lead
• A Palanchi kill gave SHU set point, and another Palanchi kill gave SHU the set on its second set point

Second Set: SHU, 25, FDU 11

• Three different Pioneers recorded kills to open the set, as SHU jumped out to an 3-0 lead 
• The Knights pulled within four, 8-4, following a SHU ball handling error, and were within four again at 10-6
• A Dole kill started a 4-0 run to push the SHU lead to eight 14-6
• The Pioneers led 15-8, before consecutive Nelis kills were followed by back-to-back Ciszek aces, to extend the lead to 19-8
• SHU finished the set on a 10-3 run and ended the set with a Palanchi solo block

Third Set: SHU 25, FDU 16

• Nelis opened the third set with three kills on her first four swings, to give SHU a 3-1 advantage
• Gianna Scioletti gave the Pioneers their next three points and push the SHU lead to 6-3
• A Pioneer service ace allowed FDU to creep back within two points, 10-8, but that was as close as the set would get
• SHU scored five of the next six points and would lead by as many as nine points, 21-12, on their way to the set victory