BROOKLYN HEIGHTS, N.Y. – The LIU Brooklyn volleyball team won its ninth-straight match Saturday afternoon, downing local rival St. Francis Brooklyn, 3-0 (25-17, 25-12, 25-19).

The Blackbirds opened the game going up early, capitalizing on SFBK errors to take a 6-3 lead. The Terriers fought back and took a 12-11 lead midway through the set. The two teams stayed close from there. Eventually, a kill by senior Tamara Ignjic, followed by back-to-back kills from junior Alex Larsen, helped propel LIU to a 20-15 lead. St. Francis called a timeout, but it didn't help much. The Blackbirds rattled off four straight points, including two kills by Larsen, and an Adriana Viñas Joy service ace, to take the set win, 25-17.

Set two was close for the first half, until a late run by the Blackbirds vaulted them ahead. Up, 13-10, back-to-back kills from senior Nicole Okeke sparked a 4-0 run that would put LIU up, 17-10. An LIU error broke the scoring streak, but the Blackbirds picked it right back up with another kill from Okeke. This time, LIU scored seven unanswered points to widen the gap to 24-11. Again, an LIU error stopped the streak, but Ignjic ended it on the next play, with a kill to give the Blackbirds the 25-12 set win, and the 2-0 match lead.

The third set saw two runs to start off, with the Terriers coming back to tie the game up, 4-4. Another LIU run put the visiting team ahead, as six unanswered points made it 10-4 LIU. LIU would lead for the rest of the set, eventually taking the third set, 25-19, and the match, 3-0.

Junior Alex Larsen led LIU with nine kills and four aces, while Ignjic had eight kills, seven digs and four blocks.  Okeke finished the match with seven kills and three blocks, while junior Nicole Hopton paced LIU with 30 assists.