Volleyball Tops Robert Morris in Four Sets

MOON TOWNSHIP, Pa.— The LIU Brooklyn volleyball team defeated Robert Morris, 3-1 (25-20, 25-22, 19-25, 25-22) to conclude its Pennsylvania road trip on Saturday night. With the win, LIU improves to 9-6 overall and 6-0 in the Northeast Conference.

Junior Kora Schaberl paced the Blackbirds offense with 11 kills to go along with three block assists and four digs. Junior Filippa Hansson contributed nine kills and eight digs for LIU. Senior Viktoria Fink finished just shy of a double-double with eight kills and 13 digs. Junior Amanda Hubbard dished out 21 assists for the Blackbirds. Freshman Myrthe Maringposted a career-high eight blocks to lead the LIU defense while junior libero Natalia Rivera posted a team-high 15 digs.

Both teams came out strong after picking up wins the night before, trading points to a 6-6 deadlock to start. The Blackbirds went on a six-point run on a few Colonial errors and a pair of block assists from Maring, Scharbel and sophomore Piper Matsumoto to jump ahead 12-6. LIU continued to keep its distance before a four-point swing on kills from Fink and junior Julia Azevedo pushed a set-high lead of eight at 18-10. RMU would work the lead back to within three late but back-to-back errors gave the Blackbirds the 25-20 set win.

Robert Morris would roll out of the second set with a 9-3 opening favor that forced an LIU timeout. The Blackbirds worked a four-point run on a kill from Hansson and block assist from Hansson and Fink to cut the deficit to two points. RMU kept the tight lead before a 6-1 swing by LIU paced by a pair of Hansson kills tied the set at 14-all. The lead would shift quickly back to the home team on a three-point spurt before the Blackbirds recorded a 9-1 stretch paced by three huge block assists up front and a service ace from freshman Anastasia Scott for the 23-18 lead. RMU would get within two before a kill from Fink sealed the 25-22 set win.

Set three started in the Blackbirds favor with a 7-5 start before a 5-0 stretch by the Colonials shifted the lead to the home team. Back-and-forth action ensued before a 6-1 run by LIU on a pair of kills from Azevedo and another service ace from Scott pushed the score to 18-14 in the Blackbirds favor. RMU did not falter cutting the deficit to three before ending the set on a 10-point run to earn the 25-19 set win.

The Blackbirds shook off the end of the third set with a 8-3 stretch on a few block assists from junior Katharina Krepper and Azevedo and Schaberl to open the fourth. LIU continued to hold the steady lead before a four-point run by RMU tied the set up at 18-18. A pair of kills from Schaberl led a five-point run by the Blackbirds for the 23-18 lead. The Colonials snuck back to bring the lead to within one before an attack error then one last kill from Schaberl sealed the 25-22 set win and the fourth road victory in league play.

LIU owned the battle of the net for the second straight night with a 14-9 total block advantage over RMU. The Blackbirds improved their four-set record to 4-2 on the year.

UP NEXT

The Blackbirds will host borough rival St. Francis Brooklyn for the annual Dig Pink! match on Friday, October 14 at 4:00 p.m.