Last Week’s Stats: .350 hitting percentage, 6.22 points/set, 5.22 kills/set, 2.89 digs/set, 0.89 blocks/set, 0.56 service aces/set
Behind Van Gisteren’s solid all-around play, the Sharks continued their red-hot play and added three more straight-set victories to their count. Starting the week off with a 3-0 non-conference win against NJIT, LIU went on the road and handed Le Moyne a pair of 3-0 defeats to improve to 4-0 in conference play, a mark that is tied with Saint Francis for tops in the league standings. In addition, the Sharks, who have won 14 of their last 15 sets — and each of their last 11 sets — extended their league-best winning streak to five matches. Leading all NEC hitters with 47 kills, 5.22 kills per set, 56 points and 6.22 points per set, van Gisteren, a native of Leuth, Netherlands, added 26 digs, eight blocks and five service aces to her impressive stat line. In Tuesday’s win over the Highlanders, she hit .500 with 20 kills and just two errors while in Friday’s series opener against the Dolphins, she racked up 17 kills, 12 digs and four blocks to propel her team to the 3-0 win. In addition, van Gisteren ranked 20th among all Division I players in kills per set. This is her first NEC/Molten Player of the Week award, and the first for a Shark this season.