Oct. 10, 2008

Final Stats

BSU 3, NIU 2 Final Box

DeKalb, Ill. - Up 9-2 in the fifth set, the Northern Illinois volleyball team was unable to finish off Ball State as the Cardinals went on an 11-3 run to take a 13-11 lead after a block assist by Alisha Green and Brittany McGinnis. Then, with the score tied at 13-13, Green notched a kill and assisted Jennifer Boyd on a block to give BSU the 15-13 win in the set, giving the Cardinals the match victory.

"I have to give a lot of credit to Ball State," said NIU head coach Ray Gooden on the Huskies' 25-17, 28-30, 25-21, 19-25, 13-15 loss to Ball State in a Mid-American Conference match. "The made plays when they needed to. They formed good blocks there and served the ball well. They got into a good rhythm there in that run."

After taking the first set, the Huskies (10-9, 2-3) survived a set point by the Cardinals (8-11, 4-1) as Hannah Sullivan missed on an attack, tying the score, 24-24. Following an attack error by Green, the Huskies had three consecutive set points of there own, but couldn't capitalize on any of them. Ball State then took a 28-27 lead after an ace from McGinnis to get another opportunity for set point, but a kill by NIU junior Cassie Yates (LaPorte, Ind./LaPorte) kept NIU alive before BSU's Jennifer Boyd and Elaina Kakatolis tallied kills to end the set, 30-28.

"We just didn't take advantage of our opportunities there," Gooden said.

BSU finished with five players in double-figure kills, led by Kakatolis' 16. McGinnis notched a double-double with 47 assists and 12 digs and Alyssa Rio totaled a team-high 22 digs.

For the Huskies, Yates set a new career-high with 18 kills, while hitting .351. Freshman Allison McGlaughlin (Morton, Ill./Morton) and junior Meagan Schoenrock (Sylvania, Ohio/Northview) registered 15 and 14 kills, respectively. Freshman Kristin Hoffman (Batavia, Ill./Batavia) notched 48 assists and nine digs, while sophomore Maddie Hughes (St. Charles, Ill./North) tallied a season-high 28 digs.

The Huskies return to Victor E. Court tomorrow night to face Toledo (9-8, 1-3) at 7 p.m.