PROVO, Utah— The LIU volleyball team fell in its second match of the BYU Doterra Classic to Weber State on Friday evening. The Wildcats defeated the Sharks in straight sets (25-27, 15-25, 21-25) at the Smith Field House.
The match kicked off with both teams trading points early, setting the tone for the set that would see 11 tie scores and five lead changes. Weber State held a slight 6-4 advantage before the Sharks picked up a wave of six straight points on a multitude of errors by the opposition and a service ace from senior
Kora Schaberl to jump ahead 10-6. The Wildcats then cut the deficit down to one point shortly after. LIU used 5-2 stretch, led by three kills from junior
Jovana Stekovic and service ace from freshman
Karolina Nova to jump ahead 15-11. The set then worked back to a 17-17 tie with a Wildcats run. The Sharks broke through the tie with a 5-2 stretch to bring the score to 22-19. Four straight points by Weber State quickly turned the table for the 23-22 point lead. Stekovic's sixth kill of the set for LIU tied it once again at 23-23. The Sharks got to set point at 25-24 on back-to-back points but a three point swing for the Wildcats gave way for a 27-25 opening set win.
LIU jumped out to an early 4-2 advantage on a solo block from freshman
Miranda Strongman along with kills from Schaberl and Stekovic to start the second set. The Wildcats proceeded to go on a 6-1 stretch from there to take the 8-6 lead. That lead would build to a five point advantage halfway through the set before LIU used another kill from Stekovic along a block assist by the junior with Strongman to cut the score to 13-10. A 7-2 run by Weber State from there built a sizable lead, setting the pace for a 25-15 second set victory.
Weber State continued its strong play to open the third set with a 12-3 lead early. LIU then embarked on a 6-2 run on kills by Stekovic and freshman
Maria Harding to go with a service ace from freshman
Barbora Hoskova to cut the score to 14-10. The Wildcats built the lead back up to seven later in the set before the Sharks built up a 7-2 swing on five kills, a block assist and service ace to get to within three points at 24-21. But one final kill from the Wildcats closed the set and the match.
Stekovic paced the match with a career-high 16 kills and added seven digs for the Sharks. a Hoskova finished with five kills to go along with a pair of service aces. Senior
Amanda Hubbard dished out 25 assists and finished the game with eight digs. Strongman picked up four blocks up front for LIU and senior
Natalia Rivera recorded a season-high 17 digs.
UP NEXT
LIU concludes its two-week trip out west with a 2:00 p.m. match against Sam Houston State on Saturday, September 7.
