March 14, 2006

Denver, CO - The Northern Illinois University women's volleyball team kept the pressure on Portland for their entire match, recording 180 attacks to their 167.

The Pilots, however, were up to the task defensively as five different players tallied double-digit digs on their way to the 27-30, 30-21, 30-26, 30-25 victory over the Huskies at the Denver Invitational on Saturday afternoon at Hamilton Gymnasium.

Portland's Nicole Thometz reached the 20/20 plateau in the win, notching a match-high, 23 kills to go along with 20 digs on the afternoon. The Pilots also received double-doubles from both Sara Vercruyssen (18 kills, 14 digs) and Sheena Surplus (58 assists, 13 digs).

For the match, Portland notched 86 digs to the Huskies' 61. Murphy McClenahan followed Thometz with 19 digs, while teammate K.C. Fox added 12 digs. Portland's Monique Kettler (14 kills) and Jennifer Sheedy (13 kills) each notched double-digit kills in the Pilot victory.

With the victory, Portland improves to 3-8 on the season, while the Huskies drop their second-straight contest and fall to 7-6 overall.

NIU's Kate McCullagh (Woodstock) topped the Huskies with 22 kills, marking her third consecutive match with 20+ kills. Sophomores Amy Ward (Sycamore) and Laura Baetzel (Chicago) followed McCullagh with 12 and 11 kills respectively.

Huskies' libero Gina Guide (Orland Park) was solid defensively, posting a career-high, 27 digs in the four-game set. That ties the Orland Park, Ill., native for third in school-history for digs in a four-game match along with former teammate Tera Lobdell (vs. Akron, 10/15/04).

Northern Illinois will be back in action at 8:30 p.m. (CST) on Saturday night, as the Huskies will square off with Denver.

###NIU###