Games of the Weekend Recap: LIU and Saint Francis Split a Weekend in Brooklyn

It just couldn’t have gone any other way.

We were so excited by the prospect of preseason #1 Saint Francis traveling to Brooklyn to take on the preseason #2 LIU Sharks to kick off the women’s volleyball season. The preseason race was tight between the two squads, going down to the points beyond the (evenly split) first place votes. But leave the polls in the past, because we’ve finally made it to Northeast Conference play and suddenly we were being treated to a matchup between two Goliaths in one of the five boroughs.

In the first match, LIU narrowly defeated Saint Francis in a thrilling five-set battle. LIU took the first two sets, 25-18 and 25-20, with strong hitting efficiency, especially in the second set where they hit .241. It looked like it would be a runaway for the Sharks at home, but the Red Flash regrouped and refused to go down so easily. Saint Francis fought back, staving off defeat in the third set by dragging the set out to overtime. They held off the Sharks to win 27-25, and then took the fourth 25-21, forcing a decisive fifth set.

However, LIU regained momentum and sealed the match with a 15-10 win in the final set. Saint Francis struggled offensively throughout, gutting out the two set wins while hitting just .115 overall compared to LIU’s .180. Maggie Hogan led Saint Francis with 18 kills, while Camelia Melendez dominated for LIU with 25 kills. LIU's more efficient attack, paired with fewer errors, helped them secure the win.

But there would be no time for LIU to rest, and the Red Flash were hungry to get the win back. In the rematch on October 5, Saint Francis rebounded with a 3-1 victory over LIU. The Red Flash came out strong, winning the first two sets 25-20 and 25-21, with their best offensive performance in the first set, hitting .345. LIU responded by roaring back in the third set 25-18, but there would be no fifth set on Sunday. Saint Francis closed out the match with a 25-21 victory in the fourth. In the rematch, Saint Francis was more efficient, hitting .209 as a team. Korrin Burns led the way for Saint Francis with 23 kills, supported by Kori McClure’s 16 kills. Alexandra Sappia had a standout performance with 48 assists and 14 digs, helping the Red Flash dominate both offensively and defensively to even the weekend series.

We had entered into the weekend wondering if we would get more clarity into where the NEC Women’s Volleyball season would take us. We didn’t get any spoilers in Brooklyn. LIU and Saint Francis are both 1-1 in conference play, and having gotten each other out of the way, how they fare against the rest of the conference will determine if the two squads are in the tournament at the end of the regular season.