MOON TOWNSHIP, Pa.— The Long Island University volleyball team will take part in the 2019 Northeast Conference Championship tournament this weekend, hosted by Robert Morris. The Sharks, who earned the No. 3 seed in the field, will take on No. 2 seed Sacred Heart, at the UMPC Events Center on Friday, November 22 at 6:00 p.m.
The winner of that game will advance to the championship match Saturday evening, where they will face the winner of No. 1 Robert Morris, and No. 4 seed Central Connecticut State.
Date: Friday, Nov. 22, 6:00 p.m.
Location: North Athletic Complex | Moon Township, Pa.
Championship Links: Championship Central |
Watch Live |
Live Stats
LIU Links: Roster |
Schedule |
Stats
Sacred Heart Links: Roster |
Schedule |
Stats
FOLLOW ALONG LIVE
Every match of the NEC tournament will be streamed online, fans can tune in to the action on ESPN3, NEC Front Row and the NEC on The Run app.
TICKET INFO
Tickets for the 2019 NEC volleyball tournament will be $6 for adults and $3 for children under 18 and senior citizens. All NEC students with an institutional ID will be admitted for free.
NOTES ON THE SHARKS
The Sharks ended the regular season on a five-match winning streak to leap in to the NEC Tournament as the No. 3 seed. LIU has performed well in league play, pacing the league circuit with 109 service aces in 16 matches. The Sharks have also registered a .232 hitting percentage against league competition, ranking third in the conference.
On the season, senior
Kora Schaberl has led the team and the conference with 3.82 kills per set. Freshman
Karolina Nova also ranks among the league leaders in kills per set, ranking sixth with a 2.97 average. She has also added a team-high 35 aces on the serve.
Senior
Amanda Hubbard has dished out a team-leading 8.15 assists per set, ranking fourth among NEC setters. Defensively, sophomore
Anastasia Scott has tallied a team-high 3.87 digs per set, good for fourth in the conference.
LIU's rookie class has garnered the league's top rookie weekly honor seven times during the regular season. Nova has earned the honor five times this season along with a player of the week nod back in September. First-year middle blockers
Miranda Strongman and
Fleur Wiersma also collected Rookie of the Week honors during the Sharks five-match winning streak to close the regular season.
SCOUTING THE FIELD
LIU has appeared in 17 straight NEC Tournaments dating back to 2002, the longest active streak in the conference. The program has earned a league-leading 11 NEC Tournament championships in the last 15 years with the last title coming back in 2017.
Colonials earned right to host the NEC Tournament for the first time since 2008 with a 15-1 league record. Robert Morris are back in the tournament after a one-year absence and have captured six NEC Tournament titles and will look to reclaim the title for the first time since 2015. Sacred Heart and CCSU are back in the tournament for the second straight season. The Pioneers also look o reclaim the league title for the first time since winning back-to-back titles in 2010 and 2011. The Blue Devils are the lone team in the field searching for their first NEC Championship title.
SCUFFLE WITH THE PIONEERS
LIU and Sacred Heart will face off in the second match of the day, after CCSU and Robert Morris play at 3:30 p.m. The Pioneers finished just ahead of the Sharks with a 11-5 league record to earn the higher seed.
This year, the two teams split, each winning at home. LIU rallied to defeat Sacred Heart, 3-2 (22-25, 25-22, 20-25, 25-23, 15-12) in the opening weekend of league play back in September. When the two teams faced off again in October, the Pioneers took the win in Fairfield, 3-0 (25-19, 25-20, 25-18).
