Long Island , NY – Hitting the road Tuesday night the La Salle Explorers paid a visiti to the Long Island Blackbirds and walked away with a 3-0 loss (30-11, 30-25, 30-27) from the Schwart Center. The Blackbirds improved to 21-5, while the Explorers slip to 8-16.

The Blackbirds rolled to an easy 30-11 victory in game one, but the Explorers gave them a stronger challenge in game two falling 30-25 and even a tougher struggle in the final game of 30-27.

Kristen Kelsey (Buda, TX/Jack C. Hays) led the Explorers with 10 kills on 21 attempts and posted a .238 hitting percentage. Kelsey was the only Explorer with more than one kill to hit over .200 for the match. Setter Amanda Woods (Cincinnati, OH/McNicholas) assisted on all but four Explorer kills, adding 24 assists to her career totals while landing one kill. Woods also served two of the Explorers three aces in the contest.

Defensive specialist Carolyn Judge (West Chester, PA/Bishop Shanahan) led all players on defense with 10 digs, while Kelsey contributed eight.

Long Island was led by Dana DeMayo who tallied 16 kills, while teammate Cristina Pintilie landed 11 shots on 19 attempts and posted a match-high .526 hitting percentage. DeMayo also added four points to the Blackbirds scoring after serving four aces to La Salle.

Melanie Fleig and Ivana Vasiljevic controlled the defense for Long Island, each recording nine digs in the match.

The Explorers are off until next Wednesday, October 27th, when they travel to Fairleigh Dickinson for a 7:00 pm match.