BROOKLYN, N.Y. --- Facing the top team in the Northeast Conference for the second day in a row, the LIU Brooklyn volleyball team secured a 3-1 victory over the Bryant Bulldogs Saturday afternoon at the Steinberg Wellness Center.

Three Blackbirds reached double figures in kills - junior Viktoria Fink with 17, junior Nina Petranovic with 16 and sophomore Filippa Hansson with 15. Freshman Piper Matsumoto set a new team season-high and tied for the third-highest assist total in the NEC with 53 helpers while sophomores Natalia Rivera (13) and Emily Magee (10) combined for 23 digs.

LIU opened the match by taking the fight to the newly minted conference leaders, taking an early 6-4 lead. Bryant scored the next four points to go ahead for the first time, 8-6. The Blackbirds would tie the set at 9-9 before Bryant went up by three, 14-11. A Petranovic kill cut the Bulldog lead to 14-12 but Bryant scored the next five points to go ahead 17-12 and forced LIU to take a timeout. After Bryant extended its lead to 23-16, the Blackbirds went on a 7-0 run to tie the set at 23-23. However, a Bulldog kill and a Blackbird long attack gave the hard-fought set to the visitors.

The early setback didn't stop the Blackbirds' aggression in the second. LIU opened the set with a forceful 8-2 run, sending Bryant to the bench with a timeout. LIU continued to push ahead out of the break, increasing its advantage to nine (14-5). Bryant tried to trim LIU's edge but could not get closer than six points the rest of the way.

Set three began with three ties but saw LIU fall behind 6-3 after Bryant scored three straight out of a 3-3 stalemate. The Bulldogs were ahead 9-5 before a 7-0 Blackbird run put the home team ahead again, 12-9, and three of the next four gave LIU their biggest lead of the set, 15-10. LIU maintained its five-point lead after a Bryant attack error led the Bulldogs to take a timeout at 22-17. Bryant made one last surge at the Blackbirds, getting as close as 23-22 but a Fink kill and an assisted block by Hansson and Matsumoto ended Bryant's rally and the set.

LIU produced another strong start to begin the fourth, winning seven of the first ten points. After taking a timeout, Bryant flipped the score on LIU to knot the match at 10-10 and added two more points to take a 12-10 lead - its first since scoring the set's first point. The Blackbirds would tie the match four times before going ahead 15-14 on a kill from Petranovic. Both teams would tie each other five more times before LIU turned a 19-19 score into a 22-19 lead with two kills and a Bryant attack error. LIU would finish the set and the match by scoring three of the next five points.