MT. PLEASANT, Mich. - Facing off against a road tested Central Michigan squad (7-8, 0-3 MAC) Friday night, the NIU volleyball team (11-4, 3-0 MAC) rallied inside a hostile McGuirk Arena to earn a straight-set victory, 26-24, 25-22, 25-19.

NIU's defense was a focal point of the team's scoring as it amassed 12.0 blocks. Jenna Radtke (Buffalo Grove, Ill./Stevenson) led the match with 10 blocks, including two solo stops. Bri Horwath (Stillwater, Minn./Stillwater Area) paced NIU in kills with nine, hitting .438 while Lauren Zielinski (Oak Forest, Ill./Marist) hit .615 with eight kills.

Head Coach Ray Gooden was pleased with the team's effort on the road and thought that it gained valuable experience in the match.

"We're continuing to learn how to play on the road and playing in Central Michigan's gym is always a challenge," he said. "(CMU) has weapons in a lot of different positions and they had energy playing its first home match of the season tonight. Once we learned how to handle that, I thought we played steady volleyball."

Feeding off the McGuirk Arena crowd in their first home match of the season, Central Michigan controlled the first set as it led 20-16 late in the frame, forcing an NIU timeout.

After settling down, the Huskies chipped away at the Chippewas' lead and climbed to within one point, 22-21, on a Zielinski kill and a CMU blocking error. After Kelly tied the match 23-23 with a block, a point replay put service back in NIU's hands which set up another block that put set point in the Huskies hands. NIU would take the stanza in deuce, 26-24.

Though Northern Illinois University held the higher ground in the second frame, both squads put together brilliant sets of runs. After NIU built a 16-9 lead, that featured back-to-back service aces by Chandler Kinley (Lexington, Ky./Lafayette), CMU rallied back to within three points, 16-13.

The Huskies increased the lead to five, 21-16, but another Chips rally tied the match, 21-21. Zielinski stepped up at the end of the set with two big kills, including one to give NIU set point and the team a 2-0 lead at intermission, 25-22.

Gooden cited the team's defense as a key to their abilities to rally late and close out sets.

"What really helped us was our ability to dig at the right times and I thought Anna (Brereton) did a good job of putting herself in spots to make things happen for us," Gooden added. Brereton (Sun Prairie, Wis./Sun Prairie) finished with 12 digs defensively.

During the final frame, the Huskies and Chippewas went back and forth as they traded service advantage with the biggest lead of the set at 12-9 in NIU's favor. As the Huskies led 14-12, CMU took the lead and held an 18-17 edge over Northern Illinois University.

The Huskies responded, gaining a 20-18 lead that forced a Central Michigan timeout. A four-point rally - capped by a Howarth kill - put match point in NIU's hands, 24-18. Though CMU scratched one more tally on the scoreboard, it wasn't enough as NIU improved to 3-0 in conference play, 25-19.

The Huskies will close the weekend in Ypsilanti, Mich., Saturday afternoon as they take on the Eagles at the EMU Convocation Center. First serve is set for 4 p.m. Central.