NORTH ANDOVER, Mass.— The Long Island University volleyball team closed out it's weekend  in New England with a 3-0 win (25-14, 25-13, 25-20) over Merrimack on Saturday evening. LIU moves to 10-16 on the season and 9-5 in Northeast Conference play with the win.

Senior Kora Schaberl paced the Sharks' offense for the second straight night with a match-high 14 kills on a .500 hitting percentage. She also added seven digs, a match-high two service aces and five total blocks. Freshman Miranda Strongman tallied double-digit kills for the second straight match, finishing with 10 kills on a team-high .667 hitting percentage. She also added five total blocks for the Sharks.

Senior Amanda Hubbard dished out 31 assists and added four kills in the win. Senior Natalia Rivera recorded a match-high 15 digs and sophomore Anastasia Scott contributed 12 digs for  LIU.

The opening set was tightly contested to start as both teams worked to a 7-7 standstill. The Sharks used a two-point run on a pair of kills from Strongman for create some separation at 9-7. After a kill by the Warriors, LIU used a 4-1 stretch paced by two kills from Schaberl to take a 13-9 lead. Merrimack chipped back at the deficit eventually cutting it to two at 14-12. The Sharks closed out the set strong from there with a 11-2 closing stretch to take the set with a block assist from Schaberl and Strongman ending the set for a 25-14. LIU registered a .370 hitting percentage in the opening set.

LIU started off strong to begin the second set with kills by Schaberl and freshmen Barbora Hoskova and Fleur Wiersma for the 5-2 lead. The Warriors used a 3-1 stretch right after to cut the deficit to one at 6-5. The Sharks answered with an 8-1 stretch on several Merrimack errors and three kills from Schaberl for a 14-6 lead. LIU continued to push the lead to nine at 19-9. Merrimack used a 4-2 run to cut it down to seven points but the Sharks ended the set with four straight points with a service ace from Wiersma earning the 25-13 second set win.

The Sharks carried over the strong second set with 5-1 start in the third, paced by a pair of kills from Schaberl. Merrimack attempted to cut into the deficit making it a two-point deficit on three occasions with the last at the 8-6 mark. LIU used a 5-2 stretch from there led by two kills from Hubbard to take a 13-8 lead. The Warriors didn't back down, putting together a 7-2 run to tie the set at 14-14. It was back-and-forth play from there with both teams trading points working to a 19-19 tie. The Sharks had one final run with a 6-1 closing stretch led by three kills from Hoskova to take the set 25-20 and earn their third straight victory.

UP NEXT

The Sharks caps the regular season at the Steinberg Center next weekend for two pivotal matches against the league's Pennsylvania contingent in Saint Francis U and Robert Morris. LIU will host Senior Day on Friday, November 15 prior to the 7:00 p.m. first serve against the Red Flash before closing the regular season against Robert Morris at 3:00 p.m. on Saturday, November 16.