West Babylon, NY | After posting a 12-2 record in conference play, the LIU Post women's volleyball team secured a share of the ECC Regular Season Championship for the first time in program history. The Pioneers, who are 28-4 overall and rank first in the East Regional ranking (the highest ranking in program history), will play Northern Blvd. rival and No. 3 seed NYIT Friday, November 17 at Molloy College in Rockville Centre, NY.
The ECC Volleyball Championship begins Friday afternoon with two semifinal matches followed by the Championship final on Saturday, November 18 at 5:00 p.m.
Molloy earned the No. 1 seed after posting a 12-2 ECC record (23-5 overall), and held the head-to-head tiebreaker, will host the two-day tournament. All games during the championship will be broadcast live on the ECC Network website.
LIU Post defeated NYIT (24-7, 10-4 ECC) on the road in their first matchup of the season in a thrilling five-set match (25-16,17-25, 21-25, 25-19, 16-14) on Sept. 27, before taking the season-series in another five-set win on Oct. 25.
In her second year at the helm, head coach and LIU Post Alumnae Amanda Ostapow is excited for what lies ahead. " I am extremely proud of the hard work the girls have put in all year long," said Ostapow. "We know that this group of dedicated women have the opportunity to do something really special this year. Everyday they have surpassed our expectations and continue to push one another on a daily basis. It's very exciting for both the coaching staff and the players to be able to be say that we've earned the top-seed in the Regional Ranking," added Ostapow.
Friday's match will mark the fifth-ever meeting between LIU Post and NYIT since the ECC's inception, the two sides last met in the semifinal round back in 2015. The Pioneers appeared in 14-straight ECC Championships from 2003-2017. LIU Post seeks its first ECC title in program history.
AT A GLANCE: NO. 2 LIU Post
· LIU Post went on a 12-game win streak from Sept. 20 – Oct. 17.
· The Pioneers boast a well-balanced attack with a lot of depth.
· Offensively, the Pioneers are second in the ECC in kills (1489) and hitting percentage (.221).
· The Pioneers are led by outside hitters Rachel Londot, Danielle Valenza, and setter Kassie Akouri-Tejedor. Londot, a four-time Player of the Week selection, ranks third in the ECC in hitting percentage (.293), kills (390), and kills per set (3.36), while Valenza (two-time ECC Player of the Week) is second on the team in kills per set (2.94). Akouri-Tejedor has been setting up her teammates all season long and ranks seventh in assists per set (5.49) while averaging (6.29) per set in conference play.
· Defensively, senior Indira Rojas has been terrific for the Pioneers and Lea Brady and Valenza have been forces at the net. Rojas is averaging 4.60 digs per set to rank second overall in the conference. Brady leads the team in blocks and ranks first in the ECC with 1.11 per set while averaging 1.15 per set in conference play, and Valenza is fourth in the league in blocks averaging 0.59 per set.
The tournament will start on Friday, November 17 with the Bridgeport vs. Molloy matchup at 5:00 p.m. NYIT vs. LIU Post will follow at 7:30 p.m. The winners of the semifinal matchups will move on to the final on Saturday, November 18 at 5:00 p.m.
All games during the championship will be broadcast live on the ECC Network website and ECC Network app on Amazon Fire TV, Android TV, Apple TV, and Roku streaming devices. Tournament recaps, highlights, interviews, and box scores will also be available on www.eccsports.org at the tournament specific web page which can be found by clicking here.
2017 ECC Volleyball Championship at Molloy College
Semifinals - Friday, November 17
No. 4 Bridgeport vs. No. 1 Molloy - 5:00 P.M.
No. 3 NYIT vs. No. 2 LIU Post - 7:30 P.M.
Final - Saturday, November 18
Winner Semifinal One vs. Winner Semifinal Two - 5:00 P.M.