BROOKLYN, N.Y.— The Long Island University volleyball team continued it's homestand at the Steinberg Wellness Center with a 3-0 sweep over Merrimack on Friday night. The Sharks bested the Warriors by set scores 25-9, 25-15, 25-21 to improve to 6-1 in Northeast Conference play.

LIU registered a season-high 12 service aces in the victory over the Warriors. Senior Kora Schaberl led the way with four service aces and added her sixth double-double of the season with a match-high 10 kills and 12 digs. Freshman Miranda Strongman added six kills on a .556 hitting percentage. Junior Masa Zirojevic and freshman Karolina Nova both added five kills for the Sharks.

Senior Amanda Hubbard and freshman Darragh Dixon both dished out 14 assists for LIU. Hubbard also finished with eight digs in the near double-double effort. Sophomore Anastasia Scott also added eight digs and tallied three service aces.

The Sharks opened the match with a 12-4 advantage five kills across the board, three service aces and a pair of block assists from Schaberl, Zirojevic, Strongman and Wiersma. Merrimack picked up back-to-back points to halt momentum for a rotation. LIU continued to pace the set from there with a 13-4 closing stretch to take the first set, 25-9. LIU was dominant on the service line in the opening set with five service aces in the set.

Both teams traded points early to start the second set as the set was knotted up at 7-7. LIU then embarked on a 6-2 stretch led by kills from Nova and Zirojevic along with a service ace from Schaberl to take the lead 13-9. Merrimack hung around keeping the set to within two points in the middle stages. The Sharks then used a six-point run on a few errors by the Warriors alone with a service ace from Scott to jump ahead 20-12. The lead would continue to hold as the set wore down to the final stages. A kill from freshman Barbora Hoskova sealed the second set win for LIU, 25-15.

Merrimack started the third set off strong with an early 8-3 lead. LIU started to click offensively using a 7-1 run to take the lead 10-9. The Warriors tallied back-to-back points to take back the lead at 11-10. The Sharks then used a seven-point run paced by three kills from Schaberl to go up 17-11. A 5-1 run by Merrimack cut down the deficit to two points at 18-16 and force a LIU timeout. The Sharks responded out of the break with three straight points to extend the lead to 21-16. Merrimack continued to hang around, working the deficit back to one point at 22-21. LIU polished off the set with three straight points as one last kill from Strongman earned the 25-21 set win and the match decision.

UP NEXT

The Sharks closes out the busy week at the Steinberg Center with a 4:00 p.m. match on Saturday, October 18.