Nov. 7, 2008

Final Stats

NIU 3, EMU 2 Final Box

DeKalb, Ill. - After being down 14-10 in the fifth set, the Northern Illinois volleyball team rallied off five straight points to take a 15-14 lead after a block from senior Irene Johnson (Schaumburg, Ill./Schaumburg) and Cassie Yates (LaPorte, Ind./LaPorte), setting up the first of four set points.

Eastern Michigan was able to hold off the Huskies until the fourth set point when junior Meagan Schoenrock's (Sylvania, Ohio/Northview) attack found the floor to give NIU a 19-17 win in the fifth and deciding set.

The Huskies (15-12, 7-6) dropped the first two sets, 22-25, 20-25, to go down 0-2 in the match at the break, but then came on strong to take the next two sets, 25-16, 25-14, to even the match behind Johnson's perfect fourth set in which she tallied five kills in five attempts to help the Huskies hit .387 as a team.

"We just played really passive in the first two sets," said NIU head coach Ray Gooden. "We had a lead for most of the first set and they went on a run late there to win it. In the second set, they were able win all of the important rallies.

"We just put the past behind us and really started our match fresh and played like we were capable of playing."

With all of the momentum in NIU's favor, it was the Eagles (9-19, 3-10) who began the fifth set strong with a 6-1 lead behind the strong serving of Ashley Mason, who tallied two early aces. However, the Huskies climbed back to tie it, 9-9, after back-to-back EMU errors. The teams each exchanged a point before the Eagles ran off four points in a row to set up match point after a block by Victoria Randolph and Emily Good.

With their backs to the wall, the Huskies rallied off four straight points to tie the score, 14-14, with a pair of kills from freshman Allison McGlaughlin (Morton, Ill./Morton) and a kill each from Yates and Johnson. Then Yates and Johnson combined on a block to give NIU match point, but a Randolph kill erased it. Yates notched another kill to set up another match point, but Randolph kept the Eagles afloat with a kill. Johnson then put the Huskies up, 17-16, with a kill, but Jill Wolosiansky, yet again, kept EMU in it. Finally, a Randolph attack error set up the final set point in which Schoenrock was able to capitalize with her 17th putaway to end the match.

"What our previous fifth sets have shown us is that the fifth set has at least two different sides to it," Gooden said. "We started off very slow and then came back and made it very close. Then we went through a slow spot again and then we were able to catch fire at the end.

"Everybody needed to make a play and we had multiple people make positive plays to help us win."

Johnson led the Huskies with a season-best 18 kills and a .325 attack percentage. McGlaughlin and Yates finished with 16 and 13 kills, respectively. Freshman Kristin Hoffman (Batavia, Ill./Batavia) ran the offense efficiently with 43 assists and a pair of kills.

"Irene after the first set, really made some nice plays for our team," said Gooden. "She scored lots of points on kills and had a couple blocks and a lot of hustle plays.

"I thought Kristin came in and did a really nice job of establishing all sides of the net for us."

Sophomore Maddie Hughes (St. Charles, Ill./North) paced the Huskie defense with season-high 29 digs and also tallied three assists.

"Maddie continues to be the anchor of our defense and she had a really strong night as a passer and defender," Gooden said.

The Huskies return to action tomorrow at 7 p.m. CST to face Central Michigan (17-9, 10-3) in their final regular season home match of the year.