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By Anthony Parelli
Brooklyn Daily
The Long Island University women’s volleyball team has won 32 straight regular season conference matches and aims to win a second straight Northeastern Conference crown as it hosts the tournament this weekend.
Blackbirds coach Kyle Robinson said the secret is playing what he describes as “blue-collar volleyball.”
“We play tough volleyball and hard-nosed volleyball, where we continue to work and don’t get down and we compete every single play,” Robinson said.
That strategy has led the team to its impressive win streak over the last three seasons. LIU heads into the tournament Saturday against No. 4 Robert Morris having won the crown seven out of the last nine years.
“We’ve been consistent,” Robinson said. “Wins are wins and we take it one game at a time to plan for each team because they are quality opponents. At the end of the day we want that championship.”
Leading the way for the Blackbirds’ title run have been Jessica Rice and Annika Foit. Rice is a graduate student in her sixth season with the team after injuries caused her to miss her first two and red shirt.
“It’s really important for her because she went through a lot and wasn’t able to play for two years,” Foit said. “We want to win this for her because she was working so hard.”
Foit, a junior, is the reigning conference player of the year and has again put together a very nice season for the Blackbirds (21–7, 14–0). She leads the team in kills, with 336 kills heading into the tournament.
“Same story, different year,” Robinson said of the hitter. “She’s consistent. She’s really coming into being a dominant player. It’s important to her to be great at everything she does.”
That drive for success was a big part of the reason that Long Island University recruited her all the way from Hausach, Germany.
“The coach contacted me and he was really nice and welcoming,” Foit said of her decision to attend LIU. “They just wanted me to come here right away. They said ‘we want you, ’ and I thought it was nice that it was in New York and how nice the coach was.”
So far, the move has paid off for both parties as they head into the conference tournament with an accomplished star player.
“We’re really happy about the season,” Foit said. “We worked well together and we played very well throughout the whole season. We’re going to work hard again and were looking forward to playing great volleyball.”