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Fairleigh Dickinson won the first three titles (1987-89) before the sport took a two-year hiatus from league competition. Robert Morris claimed the 1992 and 1993 titles when volleyball returned, but Rider ended the Colonials' dominance with its "three-peat." Rider beat Army in a 1994 play-in match to become the first non-basketball women's NEC team to appear in an NCAA Tournament. St. Francis (PA) won the first regular-season title in the post-Rider era with a perfect 10-0 mark in 1997, while Wagner won the tournament title. UMBC, in its first year in the NEC, capped off a perfect regular season by capturing the 1998 NEC title and earned the NEC's first-ever automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament. After failing to qualify for the tournament in 1998, Robert Morris captured its third NEC championship in 1999, and then went on an amazing run by winning five straight league titles before Long Island halted the streak in 2004 with its first tourney crown. Long Island won its second straight conference championship in 2005, then became the first program in league history to win an NCAA match with a 3-0 triumph over Cornell in the first round. Long Island continued its streak by winning the NEC championship each year from 2006 to 2009 to make it a league record six consecutive conference titles. LIU's reign came to an end in 2010 when Sacred Heart won the regular season and tournament titles. In 2011, Sacred Heart captured its second straight NEC championship then became the first team in league history to take a game in NCAA Tournament play, pushing nationally ranked Stanford to a fourth game in a tightly contested match. Over the next three seasons, LIU Brooklyn came out on top to make it nine NEC titles in an 11-year span, capping a decade-plus of dominace for the Blackbirds. Robert Morris put an end to LIU's run in 2015, winning its first NEC championship since taking home five in a row from 1999-03. LIU hoisted the trophy high in 2016, winning the program's 10th NEC title in a classic five-setter against Sacred Heart and repeated in 2017. Bryant broke through to win its first NEC championship in 2018. Sacred Heart returned to the top of the ladder in 2019 with straight set wins in both tournament matches. The Pioneers won their fourth title in 2021. In 2022, third-seeded FDU rallied from a set down against SHU to win its first NEC title since 1989. LIU's 12th title came in 2023. Chicago State took the NEC by storm in its first year in the league in 2024, winning both the regular season and tournament championships.
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