Volleyball Rallies to Beat St. Francis Brooklyn, 3-1

BROOKLYN, N.Y.— The LIU Brooklyn volleyball team rallied back from a first-set setback to earn a 3-1 (24-26, 25-21, 25-21, 25-22) win over St. Francis Brooklyn on Friday afternoon. The Blackbirds improve to 14-7 on the season and 11-1 in Northeast Conference play while snapping the Terriers four-game win streak at the Genovesi Center.

Redshirt-junior Julia Azevedo paced the LIU attack with a season-high 17 kills on a .424 hitting percentage. Junior Filippa Hansson also posted double-digit kills with 11 in the match and classmate Junior Amanda Hubbard dished out 34 assists for the Blackbirds. Junior Libero Natalia Riveraadded a game-high 20 digs while graduate Alexandra Lilliquist contributed 10 digs. At the net, junior Katharina Krepper tallied a game-high five total blocks as Azevedo added four blocks on the afternoon.

St. Francis held the slight lead to start the opening set before LIU tied things up at six-all. The Blackbirds would work a 5-1 run on kills from Azevedo, Hansson and sophomore Jovana Stekovic and a service ace from junior Kora Schaberl to go up 11-7. LIU continued to hold the tight lead over the Terriers as the set wore on before a two-point swing late tied it up at 23-23. A St. Francis error would get the Blackbirds to set point but one last three-point run gave the Terriers the 26-24 opening set win.

Set number two started out in LIU's favor with a 9-5 start led by a pair of kills from Azevedo. St. Francis continued to battle back, tying things up at 10-10. The Blackbirds embarked on a 7-2 run shortly after on a few Terrier errors to jump ahead 17-12. LIU's set lead the rest of the way would get no closer than three points, ending on a 3-1 run to take the second set 25-21.

The third frame opened with the home team taking a 9-6 lead. It was a constant back-and-forth from there, all the way to a 19-19 deadlock. The Blackbirds would go on a 4-1 run on kills by Hansson and Lilliquist and capped by a huge block assists from Krepper and Hubbard for a 23-20 lead. The Terriers would sneak a point before LIU closed the set with two more points including one last block assist from Azevedo and Krepper for the 25-21 set win

LIU would carry momentum over to the fourth with an early 6-3 favor but it was a 9-1 St. Francis run to take the lead at 12-7. The Blackbirds did not back down, pushing through with an 8-1 run of their own a pair of kills from sophomore Masa Zirojevic and service ace from Rivera to go up 16-14. The Terriers reclaimed the lead with a 6-3 run to jump ahead 20-19. It was a 6-2 closing run sealed by a kill from Zirojevic for the 25-22 set win to give LIU three sets to one victory.

UP NEXT

The Blackbirds remain on the road to conclude regular season play, taking on Bryant on Friday, November 9 for a 6:00 p.m. f