Oct. 23, 2009

Box Score

Box Score in PDF Format

DeKALB - In front of a standing-room-only crowd at Victor E. Court, the Northern Illinois volleyball team came up short of defending Mid-American Conference champion Ohio, Friday night.

The Huskies (11-11, 5-4 MAC) played the first place Bobcats (17-4, 9-0 MAC) nearly even in the first two sets, but lost both 25-23.

"It was a really solid MAC volleyball match for the first two sets," NIU head coach Ray Gooden said. "We were just two plays short from winning each one of those games."

Megan Schoenrock (Sylvania, Ohio/Northview) tallied six kills in the first game alone, hitting .455. As a team, Northern Illinois outhit Ohio .250-.237, and outblocked the Bobcats 5-2 in the opening period.

Things were more even in the second, where NIU's Cassie Yates (LaPorte, Ind./LaPorte) and Allison McGlaughlin (Morton, Ill./Morton) combined for nine kills and a .389 hitting percentage. The Bobcats grabbed their largest lead of the first two sets at 16-12, but after a Huskie timeout, Northern Illinois rallied with a 6-1 run to snatch a one point lead. Ohio countered, but neither team gained more than a one point advantage until the Bobcat's Ellen Herman made the winning kill.

In the third and deciding game, Ohio jumped out to a 5-0 lead, and held off the Huskies, 25-12. But Gooden saw promise from his team's performance in the first two games.

"We just had to turn a play, we had to make that play," he said. "We just didn't do it and came up a little short."

Despite the loss, the Huskies outblocked Ohio 10-7. Schoenrock led NIU with 12 kills, while Yates totaled eight and McGlaughlin racked up seven.

Northern Illinois returns to the court Saturday night to host Kent State at 7 p.m. for Dig Pink Breast Cancer Awareness Night.