Aug. 29, 2009

Final Stats

SFA - NIU Final Box

UIC - NIU Final Box

DeKALB, Ill. - The Northern Illinois volleyball team finished the NIU Comfort Inn & Suites Invitational on Saturday with a second-place finish after defeating Stephen F. Austin 3-0 and Illinois Chicago 3-2.

The Huskies (3-1) cruised by SFA in their afternoon match, 25-19, 25-23, 25-23, by outhitting the Ladyjacks .420 to .272. Meagan Schoenrock (Sylvania, Ohio/Northview) led the way for NIU with 16 kills, while Allison McGlaughlin (Morton, Ill./Morton) had nine, Mary Kurisch (LaCrosse, Wis./West Salem) had eight, and Meghan Romo (Valparaiso, Ind./Valparaiso) had seven.

"The key was smart attacking by our pin hitters," said NIU head coach Ray Gooden. "We did a good job of taking their strength away, which is their middle attack."

Cassie Yates (LaPorte, Ind./LaPorte) also had a solid match as she added 10 kills, including a perfect 3-for-3 performance in the first set.

"Cassie's relationship with our setters right now is very positive," Gooden said. "She has worked really hard at putting herself in a spot where she can be successful."

Additionally, Amanda Tadla (Oaklawn, Ill./Oaklawn) ran the offense well with 42 assists and Maddie Hughes (St. Charles, Ill./North) anchored the defense with 17 digs.

In NIU's final match of the tournament, the Huskies took the first two sets, but dropped the third and fourth sets. However, NIU recovered in the fifth set to take the match, 25-21, 25-19, 23-25, 23-25, 15-10.

"The whole game of momentum was in our favor for the first two sets," Gooden said. "We didn't' win the critical points in the third set, which swung the momentum completely their way."

In the deciding set, the Huskies took command of an 8-6 lead at the switch after UIC's Epiphany Davis' attack error. A few plays later, Schoenrock gave NIU a 12-8 lead after she registered two kills and a block. After a UIC timeout, Yates tallied a kill and a block to give NIU match point, 14-8. The Flames then held on for two more points before Schoenrock ended the match with her 18th kill.

"We scored some pretty critical points after the switch," Gooden said. "I thought that we put UIC in a spot where they really had to make a play and we were able to win a lot of points in transition, which is a very positive sign."

McGlaughlin led the Huskies against UIC with a career-high 22 kills. She also added 13 digs for her first double-double of the early season.

"Allison is continuing to evolve and I think that her confidence is starting to grow, which is going to help us," said Gooden. "She did a really good job as a server tonight and also helped us with a critical block to go along with her career-high in kills."

Along with McGlaughlin and Schoenrock, Yates (17) and Romo (10) also had double-digit kills for the well-rounded NIU offensive attack. Tadla led the team with 39 assists, while Kristin Hoffman (Batavia, Ill./Batavia) had 23. Hughes once again led the defense with 26 digs along with Monica Lang's (Chicago, Ill./Marist) 12.

Hughes and Yates also received all-invite recognition for their performance over the two day tournament.

"I think there are a few girls that we could have nominated tonight, but we are pretty proud of Maddie and Cassie's performance this weekend.

"We are happy to go 3-1 for the tournament. We identified a lot of positive things and even more things that we need to work on so it will be good for us to get back into the gym and make ourselves better as we get ready to play more matches next week."

The Huskies' next match is against Bradley on Tuesday at 7 p.m. CT in Peoria, Ill.

All-Invite Team

SIU - Rachael Brown, Sydney Clark, Jen Berwanger
NIU - Cassie Yates, Maddie Hughes
SFA - Amber Williams-Roberts
UIC - Jessica Dalke