COLUMBUS, Ohio – The LIU Brooklyn volleyball team fell to the University of Wyoming Saturday afternoon, at the 12th Annual Sports Import D.C. Koehl Classic hosted by The Ohio State University at Nationwide Arena. The Blackbirds dropped a 3-0 decision to the Cowgirls, 25-21, 25-14, 25-15.

The game started off on a strong foot for LIU. Taking advantage of an early Wyoming error, freshman Emily Magee had a service ace to put LIU up, 2-1. A kill by her classmate Katharina Krepper made it 3-1, and a bad set by the Cowgirls made LIU's lead 4-1. Wyoming would battle back eventually to tie it up, 6-6, and the two teams stayed locked there. The score would tie five more times before either squad was able to leap ahead. After a kill from senior Alex Larsen made it 11-11, Wyoming scored three straight points to widen the gap to 14-11. But the Blackbirds kept fighting. A block by Filippa Hansson and Amanda Hubbard, followed by one from Hansson and Jiayi Zhang, and LIU had cut the lead back down to 15-14. A kill from Hansson, followed by an ace from the freshman, and the Blackbirds had tied the set up once more, 16-16. LIU then used a service error, followed by a kill from Zhang, to take the lead, 19-17, heading into the final stretch of the set. Wyoming would come back to tie it up, but LIU had the lead near the end, 21-20. But a late run by the Cowgirls did LIU in. Wyoming scored five straight points to take the first set, 25-21.
 
The second set was a battle from the early going as well. With LIU down, 6-5, Zhang had a kill that would spark a run for the Blackbirds. LIU scored four unanswered points to take its widest lead of the game so far, 9-6. A few plays later, a kill from Hansson made it 11-8, and Larsen had a kill that would keep LIU up, 12-10. But then the Cowgirls went on a run. Wyoming would outscore LIU 13-1, taking an insurmountable 23-13 lead. Just a few plays later, a block by the Cowgirls ended the set, 25-15, giving Wyoming the 2-0 match lead.

Set three followed a similar pattern: LIU was able to stay close early on, but then a run by the Cowgirls put the game out of reach. Down 6-8, the Blackbirds saw Wyoming score six unanswered points to go up, 14-6. Another 3-0 run would make it 19-10, and from there, the Cowgirls had control. Despite late kills from Sonja Vukosavljevic and Zhang, Wyoming took the set, 25-15, and the match, 3-0.

Jiayi Zhang led LIU with 11 kills in the loss, while freshman Amanda Hubbard had 11 assists and eight digs, and freshman Natalia Rivera had 11 digs.

Up next, the Blackbirds open their season in the Steinberg Wellness Center, hosting the 2016 Blackbird Invitational, Saturday, September 10 and Sunday, September 11.