Women's Volleyball 11/17/2007 3:26:23 PM

#1 Long Island defeats Saint Francis, 3-0

BROOKLYN, N.Y. (Nov. 17, 2007) -- The top-seeded Long Island University volleyball team dealt No. 5 Saint Francis a 3-0 (30-16, 30-25, 30-11) sweep in semifinal action at the Northeast Conference Championship. The Blackbirds will face the winner of the Central Connecticut State-Robert Morris match. NEC Player of the Year Shelby Heggie tallied 16 kills and hit a match-high .583. Junior Martina Racic also contributed a match-high 16 kills for Long Island.

The first game started off with a thunderous kill by Racic and an ace by Heggie. Four more Long Island points forced the Red Flash into an early timeout and a 6-0 deficit. The Blackbirds stretched the lead to 9-0 before Saint Francis broke serve on a kill by junior Kristin Buter (Bowie, MD/Bowie) (Bowie, Md./Bowie). Long Island stretched its lead to double digits and cruised to a 30-16 win.

The second stanza got off to a much closer start with Saint Francis eventually working out a 10-9 lead. The Red Flash extended its advantage to 15-12, but Long Island promptly cut it to a point. Saint Francis came right back to take a 19-15 lead before senior Trevon Dyson broke serve with a kill. Four Blackbird points later and the game was tied 19-19 after a strong kill by senior Martina Wagner. After a Saint Francis timeout, junior Keshia Gibbs (Dumfries, Va./Forest Park) scored a kill to give the Red Flash the lead once again. Long Island retook the lead at 22-20 on kills by Wagner and freshman Agatha Baliddawa but Saint Francis refused to relent, keeping the score close. The Blackbirds eventually pulled away and took a 28-23 lead. Long Island went on to win 30-25 on a kill by Dyson.

The Blackbirds got off to another strong start in the third frame, scoring the first five points en route to building a 9-2 advantage. Long Island saw its lead balloon to 27-5 and coasted to a 30-11 win.

For the match, the Blackbirds hit .284 while the Red Flash hit a paltry .021. Long Island outhit Saint Francis by a 48-21 margin. Wagner recorded a match-high 19 digs and NEC Libero of the Year Svetlana Simic tallied 13 digs. Saint Francis was led by Buter's eight kills and 10 digs.

The NEC Championship match is scheduled for 1:00 p.m. on Sunday, Nov. 18.

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