DeKALB - After a slow start against Loyola (0-3) Saturday night, Northern Illinois University (2-0) won in four sets against the Ramblers, 3-1, finishing the night with a .311 attacking clip and another double-digit blocking effort (11). Mary Grace Kelly (Strongsville, Ohio/Walsh Jesuit) paced the Huskies with 16 kills and totaled a .308 average.

"It was another big battle for us against a team that again we know very well. We knew that Loyola was going to be a physical team and they were. They were beating up our block at times, but once we settled down in the third and fourth set, we got better," said Head Coach Ray Gooden.

"We definitely got better as the match went on. In the fourth set, I thought we created a lot of nice plays with our defense as opposed to just swinging against them," he added. "We were learning not to try so hard tonight. We were not doing the best technically at times and we were relying on our emotion to carry us."

Jenna Radtke (Buffalo Grove, Ill./Stevenson), who finished the night with 10 kills and a .474 hitting percentage, bookended her performance with four kills in the opening frame and five in the fourth. Meg Wolowicz (Manitowoc, Wis./Manitowoc Lincoln) registered 10 kills and led NIU with a .643 attacking clip. while also registering her first career service ace.

Loyola came out as the aggressor, taking a 4-1 lead and increasing its lead to five points at the halfway mark, 14-9. Kelly's five-kill effort led all attackers in the opening frame and rallied the Huskies back to within two points down the stretch, 21-19.

Though the Ramblers would win the opening set, 25-21, the Huskies settled in the second thanks to a 10-1 scoring run with freshmen setter Sam Boever (Gilbert, Ariz./Gilbert) on the serve. A Loyola timeout after eight points couldn't break the run as Boever recorded two aces and the offense rallied behind the freshman who made her first collegiate start.

The Gilbert, Ariz., native who transferred into NIU last spring after graduating high school early, ended the night with 27 assists, two service aces and four digs.

Another five-kill effort by Kelly on the outside in the second set paced the NIU attack as it went on to defeat LU in the set, 25-18, to tie the match at intermission, 1-1.

Tied 23-23 in the third set, an emphatic kill by Wolowicz put momentum back in the Huskies corner and put service back in Boever's hands. After disrupting the Ramblers return, an attacking error by the Ramblers Morgan Reardon put the Huskies ahead in the match, 2-1.

The NIU defense responded in the final frame with the match tied 15-15 as the Huskies dug their way into good offensive positions and ended the match on a 10-3 scoring run with six kill points. Radtke amassed three kills on the final run while Taylor Krage (St. Charles, Ill./St. Charles North) totaled two in that span.

NIU, who would go on to win the set and the match with a 25-18 fourth-set triumph, hit a match-high .517 in the final stanza in 29 total attacks.

Krage closed the night with five kills and 11 digs to share the lead with Anna Brereton (Sun Prairie, Wis./Sun Prairie) while Brianna Horwath (Stillwater, Minn./Stillwater Area) registered two blocks and eight kills.

The Huskies will close the NIU Invitational tomorrow afternoon against Iowa at 2 p.m. The meeting will decide the tournament champion as both teams own a 2-0 record and will air live on ESPN3.