Complete Release
Brooklyn, N.Y. – In a poll of the league’s head coaches, the Long Island University volleyball team was predicted to finish first in the Northeast Conference during the 2010 season. The Blackbirds, who have captured the last six NEC championships, collected five first-place votes while Sacred Heart, last year’s runner-up, garnered four first-place votes.
Head coach Kyle Robinson has guided the Blackbirds to league titles in each of his first two campaigns and will look to continue a championship streak unmatched by any other league sport at this time. Long Island went 21-14 last year and was a perfect 16-0 in NEC play, but to win another title LIU will have to replace NEC Player of the Year Svetlana Simic and two other all-conference athletes.
Leading the core group of returnees is NEC Tournament MVP and All-Tournament team member
Ashley Rice. The junior middle blocker amassed a .323 hitting percentage and averaged 1.09 blocks per game to rank fourth and sixth, respectively, in the NEC last season. Another key performer is sophomore
Breanna Cullity, a four-time NEC Rookie of the Week honoree last season. The 6-foot-3 middle blocker earned a spot on the All-NEC Second Team after racking up 110 blocks, which ranked fourth on the LIU all-time single-season list. She also finished seventh in the conference in hitting percentage (.262). Senior outside hitter
Zuzana Buchlova ranked fourth on the team in kills per set and digs per set in her first season with the Blackbirds. Junior Chelsey Stanton, a setter/outside hitter, paced the Blackbirds and ranked eighth in the NEC with 3.36 digs per game.
Central Connecticut State was tabbed to finish third while Robert Morris was predicted to finish fourth. Bryant came in fifth in the poll and Fairleigh Dickinson took the sixth spot. Saint Francis (Pa.), Quinnipiac and St. Francis (N.Y.) round out the list.
The Blackbirds will open the 2010 campaign on Friday, Aug. 27, at the Air Force Tournament. Long Island will face Air Force in the opener before taking on Boise State and South Dakota State on Aug. 28.