FINAL SCORE: WESTERN MICHIGAN defeats NORTHERN ILLINOIS 3-0 (30-25, 30-25, 30-20)

Offensive Attack Goes Silent As Huskie Volleyball Drops 3-0 Contest At MAC Foe Western Michigan

KALAMAZOO, MI -- Northern Illinois University collected just 36 kills as a team and never held a lead later than 14-13 in falling to Western Michigan University 3-0 (30-25, 30-25, 30-20) in women’s volleyball action at WMU’s University Arena Friday (Oct. 22).

With the loss, the Huskies fall to 8-15 on the season with a 3-6 mark in Mid-American Conference play. Western Michigan improves to 11-9 and gets above .500 in the MAC for the first time this season at 5-4.

The numbers told the story in game one. NIU and the Broncos were dead even in pretty much every stat category with the exception of one---total kills. Western Michigan racked up 18 put-aways to just 13 for the Huskies and earned a 30-25 victory. Northern Illinois had to battle from behind for most of the game after WMU went on a three-point run to break an early 9-9 tie. That lead grew as large as seven on multiple occasions, and although the Huskies were able to whittle it down to two at 21-19, that was as close as they would get.

Game two was a carbon copy of game one with the Broncos holding a 21-10 advantage in kills and pulling out another 30-25 victory. Once again, WMU used an early run to turn a 14-14 tie into a 17-14 lead, and the Huskies---who hit just .105 for the game---were never able to battle back to the break-even point. Just like the first stanza, the Western Michigan lead was extended to seven twice (28-21, 29-22) before the Huskies mounted a mini-comeback to close the gap to 29-25 before Abby Gephart put the contest away with a kill.

Western Michigan didn’t wait quite as long to grab its lead in game three, scoring the first three points of the contest and never trailing. NIU got back to within one at 3-2 and 4-3, but that was it. WMU scored five consecutive points at 4-3 and never led by less than four the rest of the way. The hosts watched their advantage get as high as 10 before finally finish off the match with a 30-20 win.

The Huskies failed to notch more than 13 kills in a game, collecting 13 each in games one and three. Senior Tera Lobdell (Plymouth, MN / Robbinsdale Armstrong) was held to her lowest output of the season with 14 successful swings at a .122 (14-8-49) clip and was the only Huskie who put a double-digit number in the kills column. Defensively, NIU did rack up 11 blocks including six each from Corinne Walsh (Evergreen Park) and Kate McCullagh (Woodstock), but also tallied just 38 digs while allowing the Broncos to hit .336 as a team.

Northern Illinois continues its journey through the top echelon of the MAC with a trip to second-place Ball State University Saturday (Oct. 23). First serve is set for 7:00 p.m. (EDT).

-NIU-