Oct. 3, 2008

Final Stats

NIU 3, CMU 0 Final Box

Mount Pleasant, Mich. - The Northern Illinois volleyball team earned its second win in 2008 Mid-American Conference play by defeating Central Michigan, 25-23, 25-19, 25-21, on Friday night in Rose Arena.

"I know that Central Michigan is a really good team and they are well coached," said NIU (10-7, 2-1) head coach Ray Gooden. "For us to come in to their place and get a three-set win is great for our program."

The Huskies fell down to CMU (8-7, 2-1) early in the first set, 10-7, but rallied back to take a 19-18 lead after a kill from freshman Allison McGlaughlin (Morton, Ill./Morton). NIU would then not look back as they held the lead for nearly the rest of the match.

"In that first set, I thought we were doing some good things," Gooden said. "We were just giving them points with our missed serves. Even with that, we played pretty good volleyball to win that one.

"We only missed on two more serves after that, so that was really good."

NIU finished off the first set after a CMU attack error gave the Huskies a two point advantage, 20-18, in which the Huskies were able to hold, resulting in a 25-23 win after a kill from junior Meagan Schoenrock (Sylvania, Ohio/Northview).

In the final two sets, NIU jumped out to early advantages to make it difficult for the Chippewas to recover. In set two, the Huskies led, 14-8, after a CMU attack error. Then in the third set, NIU led, 17-10, after a block assist from Schoenrock and senior Irene Johnson (Schaumburg, Ill./Schaumburg). The Chippewas did mount a comeback, cutting the deficit to 24-21, but junior Cassie Yates (LaPorte, Ind./LaPorte) ended the match with her fourth kill of the night.

"We served the ball better and scored in transition in the second set," said Gooden. "In the third set, they came out with a different line-up and we were able to still start off strong. We were attacking the ball better with each set."

Schoenrock and McGlaughlin tallied 12 kills apiece, extending Schoenrock's double-figure kills streak to 19 matches. Freshman Kristin Hoffman (Batavia, Ill./Batavia) registered 33 assists and seven digs. Defensively, sophomore Maddie Hughes (St. Charles, Ill./North) led the Huskies with 10 digs.

The Huskies travel to Ypsilanti, Mich. tomorrow to face Eastern Michigan (6-10, 1-1) at 2 p.m. CST.