TAMPA, FLA. – The LIU Brooklyn volleyball team fell in the first game of the University of South Florida Classic Friday afternoon at the Sun Dome. The Blackbirds lost to Wright State, in a 3-1 decision to the Raiders that could not have been closer, 25-23, 25-23, 22-25, 25-20.

The game was close from the first serve. A kill from senior Alex Larsen and a service ace from freshman Emily Magee put LIU up early, 2-0, and two WSU errors helped widen the lead to 4-1 shortly thereafter. But the Raiders would come back to tie it up and take the lead, 6-5. A kill from Wright State eventually gave them the 11-8 lead, and just a few points later, a 4-0 run helped the Raiders widen that lead to 15-10. The Blackbirds managed to rally and come back to stay in the set, but Wright State was able to sneak out of the first set with a 25-23 advantage.

The second set was close throughout, and once again, saw Wright State take the win, 25-23, with the match advantage now 2-0. LIU's breakthrough came in the third set. The Raiders were able to go up on the Blackbirds midway through the set, 10-7, but just a few points later, LIU outscored WSU 4-1, to tie the set up, 13-13. The Blackbirds used a service ace from Larsen to retake the lead, 16-15, but again, WSU would come back to regain control of the set, 17-16. From there, however, an LIU timeout proved to help the Blackbirds find their center. Coming out of the break, LIU scored six straight points to take the lead, 22-17. Though Wright State would rally to score three points while facing set point, LIU was able to take the win in the end, on a kill from sophomore Jiayi Zhang, 25-22.

The third set win helped keep LIU's hopes in the match alive, but it was not to be, as Wright State won the fourth set, 25-20, and the match victory, 3-1.

Junior Alexandra Lilliquist led LIU on offense with 16 kills, while freshman setter Amanda Hubbard had 37 assists and 15 digs. Freshman Natalia Rivera led the defense with 26 digs.