BROOKLYN, N.Y. --- The LIU Brooklyn volleyball team will begin its run in the NCAA Division I Women's Volleyball Championship Friday evening with a first round match against the eighth-seeded Washington Huskies in Seattle.
LIU BROOKLYN PROGRAM BREAKDOWN
- LIU's trip to this year's NCAA Tournament is the program's 11th all-time and the Blackbirds are the only Northeast Conference team to win a first-round match in the tournament (2005, 3-0 vs Cornell). Former NEC member Rider won an NCAA Play-In match over Army in 1994 (3-2).
- The Blackbirds enter NCAAs on an eight-match winning streak, tied for the fifth-best streak entering the national tournament in program history:
- 2012: 19 wins (program record)
- 2009: 12 wins
- 2004: 11 wins
- 2013: 10 wins
- 2006/2014/2017: 8 wins
- After claiming the regular season (shared) and tournament titles in 2017, LIU has won at least one of the two NEC crowns in seven straight years (since 2011).The Blackbirds' 11-0 home record marks the third time in program history that LIU has gone undefeated in Brooklyn (2004, 2014) and the second straight time that LIU has done so while hosting an additional two matches while winning the NEC Tournament.
- Entering the tournament, LIU ranks in the top 40 nationally in four categories: digs per set (20th, 17.69), team digs (25th, 1999), opponent hitting percentage (32nd, .165), and team attacks per set (35th, 38.01).
- LIU ended the regular season and NEC Tournament as the only team in the league to finish in the top three in all seven major categories: hitting percentage (2nd, .192), opponent hitting percentage (2nd, .165), assists (1st, 12.05/set), kills (3rd, 12.81), blocks (2nd, 2.07/set), service aces (3rd, 1.36), and digs (2nd, 17.69).
- Junior Viktoria Fink earned LIU's tenth NEC Player of the Year award this season and the program's first since former great Annika Foit won three straight from 2012-14. Fink leads the team with 3.47 kills/set and 344 total kills and is second on the team with 12 double-doubles. Fink was also named an All-ECAC First Team selection prior to the tournament.
- Fink also joined junior Nina Petranovic on the All-NEC First Team, the 20th and 21st Blackbirds to earn the honor. Combined, the select group of Blackbirds have brought home 44 total First Team All-Conference nods.
- Petranovic, who was named an All-ECAC Second Team pick, has recorded a team-high 15 double-doubles and is second on the team with 3.06 kills/set and 333 total kills.
- Sophomore Filippa Hansson was named to the All-NEC Second Team, the 15th Blackbird to earn the distinction and the 18th total honor for the program. Hansson also earned a spot on the NEC All-Tournament team. Hansson has the best hitting percentage on the team (.278, min. 3.0 TA/set; 5th in NEC) and is the best Blackbird in service aces (0.29/set; 9th in NEC).
- Freshman Piper Matsumoto played her way onto the NEC All-Tournament team by recording the ninth triple-double in LIU history in the title match with season highs of 55 assists, 15 digs and ten kills. It was the first triple-double for a Blackbird since Dunja Milin against UC Santa Barbara (57 assists, 10 kills, 10 digs) on August 25, 2007. Matsumoto is one of two Blackbirds in the NEC top 10 in assists (5.97/set).
- Sophomore Natalia Rivera rounded out LIU's representatives on the All-Tournament team by earning the program's 11th NEC Tournament MVP award. The honor capped an outstanding season for Rivera, who won a league-high five Molten/NEC Defensive Player of the Week awards and added her name throughout the LIU record books. Entering NCAAs, Rivera is now 10th all-time in career digs (1028), second in single-season digs (617; 5.46/set, 2nd in NEC) and tops in single-match digs (40 vs George Washington, September 2, 2017).
- Third-year head coach Ken Ko has had an extremely successful beginning to his tenure at LIU. Ko has produced a record of 50-38 in his three seasons as a collegiate head coach, earning his milestone 50th victory in this year's NEC title game. Ko's Blackbird teams have earned either an NEC regular season or tournament title in each of his first three seasons, the first LIU coach to do so since Toby Rens won four tournament crowns and three regular season titles from 2004-07. His teams' win totals have increased each year (14 in 2015, 16 in 2016, 20 in 2017), culminating in this year's 20-9 mark.
SCOUTING THE FIELD
WASHINGTON HUSKIES
- Washington enters the NCAA Tournament after posting a 24-7 overall record and finishing tied for second in the Pac-12 with a 14-6 league record. The Huskies, who have reached the NCAA Tournament a total of 22 times, are one of the Pac-12's conferences-leading nine selections and the second-highest seeded Pac-12 team in the field behind defending champion and No. 3 Stanford. Washington has won one national championship, defeating Nebraska in straight sets back in 2005.
- Stats Leaders: Kara Bajema (3.25 kills/set), Bailey Tanner (9.02 assists/set), Tia Scambray (0.38 service aces/set; 3.91 digs/set), and Lauren Sanders (1.47 blocks/set).
- LIU and Washington have not faced each other.
ILLINOIS FIGHTING ILLINI
- Illinois will go into the first round with a 21-10 record and tied for fifth in the Big Ten with a 12-8 mark in the Big Ten. Illinois have made the NCAA field 24 times and are one of eight teams from the conference to be competing for the 2017 title.
- Stats Leaders: Jacqueline Quade (3.38 kills/set), Jordyn Poulter (10.83 assists/set), Morgan O'Brien (0.22 service aces/set), Brandi Donnelly (4.48 digs/set), and Ali Bastianelli (1.59 blocks/set).
- LIU and Illinois have not faced each other.
HAWAII RAINBOW WAHINE
- Hawaii opens NCAA play with a 20-7 overall record and a second-place finish in the Big West Conference at 14-2. Hawaii is one of eight former NCAA champions in the field, having won three titles in 1982, 1983 and 1987. The Rainbow Wahine have made 36 of 37 NCAA tournaments, one of four teams to be selected to at least 36 tournaments.
- Stats Leaders: McKenna Granato (3.94 kills/set), Norene Iosia (10.12 assists/set; 0.34 service aces/set), Savannah Kahakai (3.98 digs/set), and Emily Maglio (1.50 blocks/set).
- LIU and Hawaii have not faced each other.
NEXT UP
The winner of the LIU - Washington match will face the winner of the Illinois - Hawaii match on Saturday, December 2 at 10 p.m. ET