Bridgeport, Conn. – Sophomore Heather
Adams (Centerville, Ohio), freshman Harlee Meyers (Kailua, Hawaii),
and junior Makamae Namahoe (Hilo, Hawaii) each recorded a
double-double to lead the LIU Post volleyball team to a thrilling
five set win over NYIT in the ECC Semi-final match Friday
evening.
The set scores of the five set shootout were 25-21, 22-25, 25-21,
22-25, and 17-15.
LIU Post advances to the ECC Championship game to face the No. 1
seeded Bridgeport Purple Knights at 5 p.m. Saturday evening at the
Hubbell Gym in Bridgeport, Conn.
After some initial back and forth play and five early score ties by
the two squads, the Pioneers closed out the first set on a 10-7 run
to take the first set win 25-21. Adams led the Pioneer attack
in the first set with five kills and a .566 attack percentage.
The Pioneers opened up the second set on a 9-4 run, but the Bears
quickly got themselves into the game scoring six of the next eight
points to pull themselves within one. With the score at
11-10, the teams battled to seven different score ties with NYIT
pulling out the win grabbing the final four points of the
set. The Bears evened the set score at one-all with a 25-22
set score. Adams once again had five kills for the Pioneers,
but NYIT's Shelby Cable and Katarina Sretenovic smashed six and
five kills, respectively.
Opening up the third set 5-1, the Pioneers never fell behind taking
the third set by a score of 25-21. The set win was capped by
a Monica Amador (Cedar Park, Texas) kill off a feed from
Adams. Consistency was the key for Adams as she tallied five
kills for the third straight set to lead LIU Post.
LIU Post and NYIT traded point for point with six lead changes and
11 different times the score was tied in the fourth set. NYIT
was able to secure the fourth set with an 8-2 run to close out the
set and tie the match at two sets apiece.
It only seemed fitting for this “battle of the
boulevard” to go to a deciding fifth set, and the play in the
final set was all any true volleyball fan could have wished
for. NYIT took an early 8-5 lead, but back-to-back kills by
Namahoe pulled the Pioneers to within one. The Bears answered
with two straight points of their own, but Namahoe once again
knocked down two consecutive kills to pull the score to 10-9 in
favor of NYIT. A Cable kill gave the Bears a two point
advantage, but on cue, Namahoe answered with her fifth kill of the
set and was followed by a kill by Meyers to tie the final set at
11-all. With the score going point for point with score ties
at 12, 13, 14, and 15, the Pioneers finally sealed their spot in
the ECC Championship game with yet another Namahoe kill followed by
a critical NYIT attack error.
Adams finished the match with a very balanced statistic line of 18
kills, 21 digs, .265 attack percentage, three service aces, and
four block assists. Meyers led all players on the court with
a .370 hitting clip, and she added 12 kills and 15 digs.
Namahoe and senior Lisa Delfs (Canandaigua, N.Y.) tacked on 12
kills apiece for the Pioneer offense, with Namahoe also tallying 20
defensive digs. The duo of sophomore Lulu Centro (Rome,
Italy) and Amador split the setting duties with 25 and 22 assists,
respectively. Freshman Rachel Ringor (Honolulu, Hawaii)
scooped up a Pioneer-high 22 digs.
NYIT had three players reach double-digit kill totals with
Sretenovic and Cable smashing 17 each, and Savannah Donarski adding
14. Marija Jovanovic tossed up a match-high 49 assists, and
Tugce Sirdas tallied a leading 25 defensive digs.
This season, the Pioneers have split the series with
Bridgeport. The bright spot for LIU Post is the fact that it
grabbed its win in Bridgeport's gym—the place of the ECC
Championship tomorrow night.
Provided by the LIU Post Sports Information Department.
