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Somerset, NJ -- Two-time defending champion LIU Brooklyn captured four of the five major Northeast Conference (NEC) women’s volleyball awards on Friday evening. Heading the list for the NEC regular season champion Blackbirds was LIU Brooklyn senior Annika Foit (Hausach, Germany/Robert-Gerwig-Gymnasium), the first three-time NEC Player of the Year in conference history. Also making history were LIU’s Vera Djuric (Lazarevac, Serbia/Svetozar Markovic), Adriana Viñas Joy (San Juan, Puerto Rico/Colegio Marista) and head coach Kyle Robinson.  Djuric was unanimously selected as NEC Setter of the Year for the fourth year running, Viñas Joy earned her third straight NEC Libero of the Year award and Robinson was tabbed NEC Coach of the Year by his peers for the fourth consecutive season.  Bryant’s Natascha Scarff (Geneva, Switzerland/College Sismondi) earned NEC Rookie of the Year honors.

Foit not only earned an unprecedented third straight NEC Player of the Year honor, she also became the ninth LIU honoree in the last 12 years. Foit led the league in kills (4.16) and points (4.68) per set in the regular season, helping LIU Brooklyn claim its fourth consecutive NEC regular season championship. The senior recorded 16 double-doubles, five 20+ kill matches and was named Molten/NEC Player of the Week on four different occasions. Foit is also a four-time All-Conference first team honoree.


Robinson earned top billing among the conference's coaches after guiding LIU Brooklyn to a 23-6 overall record and a perfect 14-0 mark in NEC play en-route to the program’s eighth regular season title – all coming in the last ten years - and fourth in a row. The Blackbirds are now 60-2 versus league rivals the last four seasons and hold the nation's longest active conference win streak with 46 straight regular-season victories. Robinson's recognition from the coaches marks his fourth straight NEC Coach of the Year award, the most in league history.

Scarff became the first Bulldog to claim a major volleyball award since Bryant joined the NEC in 2009. The outside hitter ranked seventh in league play with 3.53 kills and 4.00 points per set. Scarff also had the second best hitting percentage of all NEC freshman, swinging a .214 on the season against conference opponents. Scarff, who ranked second on the Bulldogs in kills per set and digs per set, was named Molten/NEC Rookie of the Week five times this season.  She also earned second team All-NEC honors, the only league freshman to make an All-Conference team.

Fourteen NEC student-athletes were tabbed All-NEC by the conference’s coaches, with seven making the first team. Joining Foit, Djuric and Viñas Joy as All-NEC first team selections were LIU Brooklyn outside Tamara Ignic (Belgrade, Serbia/First Economic), Central Connecticut junior Makenna Lommori (Yerington, NV/Yerington) and senior middle blocker Rachel Dunlap (Sonora, CA/Lee College), and Robert Morris senior middle blocker Becky Jay (Parma, OH/Padua Franciscan).

Ignic, a three-time All-NEC first teamer, currently ranks second in the league with 4.11 kills per set, only behind teammate Annika Foit. Against conference opponents, the junior averaged 4.67 kills per set, the best mark in the league by a wide margin. Ignic has had 15+ kills on 16 different occasions, and eight double-doubles, including three against conference opponents. She was a three-time NEC Player of the Week in 2014.

This marked Lommori’s third first team All-NEC selection, and it comes after she led the league with four regular season triple-doubles in her junior campaign. Lommori was the only NEC athlete to achieve the mark, and did so against a pair of conference opponents. Despite a change of position halfway through the season, Lommori led the Blue Devils to their 12^th consecutive tournament appearance. The setter-outside hitter combo averaged 4.19 kills per set in NEC action, which ranked her second in the league.

Dunlap was recognized on the first team for the first time in her career. The middle-blocker made the jump from second team in her senior season. Dunlap leads the league in hitting percentage (.339) and blocks per set (1.38). Dunlap’s blocks average ranks her 25th in the nation and her 139 total blocks on the season is the 24th-best mark nationally. She was a four-time NEC Defensive Player of the Week during the regular season.

Jay, a 2012 second team All-NEC selection, returns to an All-Conference team for her senior season. Jay recorded the highest block totals this season for four (12) and five (11) set matches. Jay led the Colonials with 126 blocks this season and her 1.12 blocks per set ranks her third in the NEC.  She is also ranks 10th in hitting percentage (.242).

Heading the second team was Robert Morris two-time All-NEC second team middle blocker Arden Fisher (Oakmont, PA/Riverview). Fisher, a sophomore, leads a balanced Colonial offense with 2.44 kills per set. Joining Fisher on the second team was teammate Kristin Thompson (Monroe, OH/Bishop Fenwick). The junior middle blocker paces the Colonials with a .322 hitting percentage, ranking third in the league.

Saint Francis U outside hitters Hannah Kutny (Clifton Park, NY/Catholic Central) and Breanna Opera (Lancaster, NY/Lancaster) each made their first appearances on the All-NEC second team. The pair combine for 6.38 kills per set, producing over half of the team’s offense. Kutny, a junior, recorded 14 kill/dig double-doubles, including seven in conference action and sits sixth in the NEC with 3.16 kills per set. Opera leads the Red Flash and ranks fifth in the conference with 3.22 kills per set in her sophomore year, and posted a team best 3.62 kills per set against conference opponents. 

The 2013 NEC Rookie of the Year and two-time All-NEC second teamer Sarah Krufka (Santa Margarita, CA/Tesoro High) led Sacred Heart with 3.44 kills per set this season. Krufka, a sophomore, added 23 aces on the season on a Pioneer team that ranks seventh in Division with a 1.74 aces per set average.

Joining Natascha Scarff on the second team is Bryant teammate Debora Magalhaes (Belo Horizonte, Brazil/Colegio Magnum Agostiniano). Magalhaes leads the NEC with 660 digs in her junior campaign, which ranks third in Division I. Magalhaes’ 5.20 digs per set is also an NEC best, and places her 21st in Division I. Scarff and Magalhaes became the first two players in Bryant’s short NEC history to earn All-Conference recognition.

About The Northeast Conference
Now in its 34th year, the Northeast Conference is an NCAA Division I collegiate athletic association consisting of 10 institutions of higher learning located throughout six states. Media coverage of the NEC extends to four of the largest markets in the United States - New York (#1), Pittsburgh (#23), Baltimore (#27), and Hartford/New Haven (#30).  Founded in 1981 as the basketball-only ECAC Metro Conference, the NEC has grown to sponsor 22 championship sports for men and women and now enjoys automatic access to 14 different NCAA Championships. NEC member institutions include Bryant, Central Connecticut, Fairleigh Dickinson, LIU Brooklyn, Mount St. Mary's, Robert Morris, Sacred Heart, St. Francis Brooklyn, Saint Francis U and Wagner. For more information on the NEC, visit the league's official website (www.northeastconference.org) and digital network (www.necfrontrow.com), or follow the league on Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, Instagram and Google+, all @NECsports.