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Los Angeles, CA -- The LIU Brooklyn volleyball team dropped a hard-fought match in the first round of the NCAA Tournament, falling to #12 overall seed UCLA, 3-0 (25-23, 25-19, 25-18). Junior
Tamara Ignjic led LIU in the match with 10 kills, while senior
Annika Foit had nine kills and nine digs.
The first set saw the home team take a quick lead. UCLA pulled out to a 3-0 lead before a kill from Tamara Ignjic would get the Blackbirds on the board. The Bruins continued to pull away, going up 6-2 before LIU would call a timeout. UCLA held on to the lead until, widening it up to 20-13 before the Blackbirds would come rallying back. A kill from Vera Djuric helped spark LIU, and the Blackbirds used a kill from Ignjic, a kill from Nicole Okeke, and a block from Djuric and Okeke to close the game to 22-20. A few plays later, a UCLA attack went long, and LIU was as close as they'd been all set, down 23-22. The Bruins called a timeout, and came out of the break ready to go, scoring the two points they'd need to win the first set, 25-23.
In the second set, LIU got the first point early, with a kill from Okeke. But UCLA came back to tie it up, and took the lead on an LIU error. From there, the Bruins and the Blackbirds went back and forth. A block by Okeke and Mirjana Rajic helped the Blackbirds close the distance to 5-6, and a UCLA attack error tied the set at 6. From there, UCLA pulled away again, but LIU would rally back. A kill from Foit sparked a run, and back-to-back kills from Rajic followed, cutting the lead to 11-10. But UCLA answered with a 4-0 run that would give them control for the rest of the set. A kill from senior Mia Radisic late in the set gave LIU a chance, 23-19, but the Bruins landed back-to-back kills to win the seconds set, 25-19.
The Blackbirds gave the Bruins a scare in the third set. LIU kept it close right from the start, tying the score up at 3-3, again at 4-4, and 6-6. UCLA eventually took a 9-6 lead, but a kill from Rajic helped the Blackbirds start to battle back. UCLA errors proved costly, helping LIU tie it up again, 9-9. But this time, the Blackbirds were able to take the lead. A block by Djuric and Okeke gave LIU a 10-9 lead, and another block by Okeke and Ignjic made it 11-9. Rajic followed that with a service ace to give LIU a 12-9 lead, and UCLA called a timeout. LIU would hold on to the lead, and used a service ace from junior Adriana Viñas Joy to go up, 15-11. But the Bruins would score nine straight points to retake the lead and go up, 20-15. The Bruins had control from there, eventually taking the third set win, 25-18, and the match, 3-0.
With the loss, the Blackbirds conclude the 2014 season with a 25-7 overall record.