BROOKLYN HEIGHTS, N.Y. – The LIU Brooklyn volleyball team rallied from a first set loss to come back and beat the St. Francis Brooklyn Terriers Saturday afternoon, 3-1 (22-25, 25-21, 25-11, 25-16). With the win, LIU is now 5-11 overall, and 2-1 in the Northeast Conference.

In the opening set, St. Francis started off with back-to-back kills, taking the 2-0 lead, and they never let the Blackbirds catch up. Though LIU would come close throughout the set, the Terriers led wire to wire, and won the first set on their home court, 25-22.

The second set saw SFBK once again go up early. After trading points back and forth in the beginning, LIU saw the Terriers us a 3-0 run to widen the lead to 17-12. Liu would use a late 6-1 run to come back and tie the score up, 18-18 not long after, including kills from senior Alex Larsen and sophomore Jiayi Zhang. St. Francis would go up again, 21-19, but then LIU went on its last and final run. Three straight kills from Larsen got the run started, and a block from Larsen and freshman Filippa Hansson gave LIU set point. Freshman Natalia Rivera ended the set for LIU with a service ace, 25-21, tying the match up, 1-1.

Despite the 6-0 run to close the second set, LIU lost momentum heading into the third, and once again had to battle point-for-point with the Terriers. After a Larsen kill made it 9-6 for the Blackbirds, SFBK put together a 3-0 run that would tie the set up once more, 9-9. The Blackbirds came back though, and put together a run that put the second set out of reach for the home team. LIU would score eight unanswered points to widen the lead to 17-9, and then used an 8-1 scoring spree to close out the set, and take the third set win, 25-11.

With a 2-1 advantage heading into the fourth set, LIU had to fight to take the lead for good. Early in the set, the score was tied five different times, and the lead changed hands three times, before a definitive advantage was established. LIU established that advantage with two runs that would put the game out of reach for SFBK. The first came with LIU up, 10-9. A 4-0 run, including kills from Larsen and junior Alexandra Lilliquist widened the gap to 14-9. After a St. Francis kill, the Blackbirds went on another spree, scoring five straight points to take the lead, 19-10. St. Francis still had some fight left in them, and would score six more points, but in the end, a service ace by freshman Amanda Hubbard ended the set, 25-16 for LIU, giving the Blackbirds the 3-1 win.

Senior Alex Larsen led LIU with 16 kills and four blocks, while junior Alexandra Lilliquist had a double-double, with 13 kills and 13 digs along with seven assists. Freshmen Natalia Rivera and Emily Magee anchored the defense, with 26 digs and 13 digs respectively, while classmate Amanda Hubbard had 44 assists. Junior Sonja Vukosavljevic was a force at the net, with seven total blocks against the Terriers.