Sept. 13, 2008
NIU 3, Fairfield 0 Box Score
NIU 3, Bradley 0 Box Score
NIU 3, Fairfield 0 Final Box 
NIU 3, Bradley 0 Final Box
DeKalb, Ill. - The Northern Illinois volleyball team won both its matches on Saturday to win the NIU Invite II, taking down Fairfield (2-8), 25-21, 25-17, 26-24, and Bradley (3-7), 25-18, 25-18, 25-23. The Huskies (7-5) combined to outscore the Stags and Braves, 119-83, while posting a .278 attack percentage compared to their opponents' .173 mark.
"Winning the invite is a fantastic feeling," said NIU head coach Ray Gooden. "The girls played really well at home and had a great weekend."
Junior setter Amanda Tadla (Oak Lawn, Ill./Oak Lawn) registered 37 assists in each match, managing a well balanced offensive attack as the Huskies had three players tally double-digit kills in each match. Against Fairfield, junior Meagan Schoenrock (Sylvania, Ohio/Northview) led the team with 13 kills, freshman Allison McGlaughlin (Morton, Ill./Morton) had 12 and junior Cassie Yates (LaPorte, Ill./LaPorte) had 10. Against Bradley, Schoenrock once again had a team-high 19, senior Irene Johnson (Schaumburg, Ill./Schaumburg) had 11 and McGlaughlin had 10.
"Amanda did a good job of balancing the offense," said Gooden. "It wasn't a one person show and she continued to improve over the weekend. She did a really good job of spreading the ball around."
In NIU's first match of the day against Fairfield, with the score knotted at 24, the Huskies used a Yates kill and a Stags error to pull out the match point in a 26-24 win in the third set. Yates tallied 29 kills and a team-best 16 blocks over the weekend, while hitting .323, which earned her a spot on the All-Invite team.
"Cassie had a solid performance throughout the tournament," Gooden said. "She did a great job of blocking. She was a strong force around the net this weekend."
In the first two sets of the night-cap match versus Bradley, the Huskies jumped out to early leads to help put away the Braves. In the first set, NIU possessed a 15-8 lead and in the second set, the Huskies started on a 10-1 run, leading 20-6 at one point.
However, in the third set, the Huskies found themselves down early, 10-5. NIU worked back to tie it at 21 before Schoenrock notched three kills to put the Huskies up 24-22. McGlaughlin then ended the match with a putaway of her own.
Schoenrock totaled 63 kills over the weekend, hitting an outstanding .413 to lead the team and garner an All-Invite selection.
"Meagan was playing at a really high level this weekend," said Gooden. "She had great rhythm, especially in the Bradley match. She played a lot smarter in that match than she did against Fairfield."
Sophomore Maddie Hughes (St. Charles, Ill./North) was also selected to the All-Invite team for NIU as recorded double-digit digs in every match of the invite, leading the team with a total of 56.
"Maddie did a great job of playing defense," Gooden said. "She really anchored our defensive group this weekend.
"Meagan, Cassie and Maddie get the recognition, but really it was a strong performance across the board from the entire team this weekend."
The Huskies return to action on Tuesday, September 16 to take on UW-Milwaukee (6-3) at 7 p.m. CST in Milwaukee, Wis.
-NIU-
All-Invite Team
NIU
Meagan Schoenrock
Cassie Yates
Maddie Hughes
Towson
Alysha Fanning
Maddie Haseltine
Loyola
Sarah Singer
Lauren Ditscheit
Bradley
Annie Cave
Fairfield
Brandi Higa
