HACKENSACK, N.J. – The Fairleigh Dickinson volleyball team closed out the 2019 season with a sweep of Saint Francis U 25-17, 25-18, 25-21 at the Rothman Center on Saturday night.
 
The Knights honored seniors Emma Liller and Abigail Strebig prior to the match with the annual senior day ceremonies and proceeded to register their highest attack percentage of the season. Led by sophomore Sophia Spiridonakos, the Knights (4-26, 3-13 NEC) posted a .319 attack percentage by totaling 42 kills with just six errors.
 
Spiridonakos hammered a career-high 13 kills in the victory, -- with zero attack errors -- while junior Victoria Demmene and freshman Mujay Mambu each added 10 kills. Reigning NEC Defensive Player of the Week, Allison Koester closed out her season with an 18-dig performance, which extended her streak of double-digit digs to five matches.
 
Madi Tyus and Cecelia Esposito paced the Red Flash (3-25, 3-13 NEC) with 13 and 11 kills, respectively in the loss.
 
Consecutive kills by Spiridonakos and sophomore Brooke Stevens helped the Knights score the first five points of the contest en route to an 8-2 lead. The lead would grow to 14-7 after a kill by junior Magdalena Maksimovic and the Knights would fend off the Red Flash to take a 1-0 match lead.
 
The second set saw the Knights fall behind 6-1 before mounting their comeback. With Spiridonakos serving, the Burgundy and Blue clawed back and a string of five straight points gave them a 9-8 edge.
 
Leading by two later in the set, the Knights rattled off another 5-0 spurt, highlighted by a service ace from Demmene, which established an 18-11 cushion. The Knights would go on to take the set by seven points and stake a 2-0 lead.
 
The third set featured eight ties and four lead changes before the Knights stretched a one-point lead to five, 21-16, with the help of a service ace from sophomore Corina Beimers. Beimers would finish with 19 assists in the win and the Knights finished off the victory 25-21.