DEKALB, Ill. – The Northern Illinois University volleyball team outlasted Kent State in the opening set 43-41 on its way to a sweep of the Golden Flashes, 43-41, 25-22, 25-20, on Saturday night at Victor E. Court. Freshman Jori Radtke (Buffalo Grove, Ill./Stevenson) collected a career-best 15 kills, freshman Kaylee Martin (Sterling, Ill./Sterling) tallied 13 kills and 22 digs while junior Meg Wolowicz (Manitowoc, Wis./Manitowoc Lincoln) added 12 kills, hitting .320, and five blocks.

The opening set tied for the third-longest in NCAA Division I history since the 25-point scoring format was introduced in 2008 and is the longest in the MAC in that time. 

"At a certain point the kids had to play," said NIU head coach Ray Gooden about the first set. "We ran out of subs, they ran out of subs and everybody just had to give their best. It was nice for us to be on the good side of that, but it was a great volleyball game, lots of suspense, lots of good theatre, both teams were playing really hard."

The Huskies survived the opening set against the Golden Flashes that featured 29 ties and 10 lead changes. From an early 10-7 NIU lead, neither team held an advantage of greater than two points in the set. Tied 41-41, Wolowicz recorded a solo block to give the Huskies a set point chance, their 12th of the opening frame, and the Huskies made it count as Wolowicz and sophomore Brinley Milbrath (Cedar Rapids, Iowa/John F. Kennedy) combined for a block to end the set, 43-41. 

NIU (6-19, 5-5 MAC) recorded 23 kills and eight blocks in the set, with Martin leading the way with nine kills and junior Chrystal McAlpin (Calumet Park, Ill./Shepard) pacing the Huskies with five blocks. Senior Anna Brereton (Sun Prairie, Wis./Sun Prairie) had 11 digs in the set. Kent State tallied 27 kills in the set, led by 10 from Kelsey Bittinger.

Kent State (4-17, 2-8 MAC) led by four in the second set, 14-10, but the Huskies answered with the next four points to even the set. Tied at 19, Martin and Milbrath recorded back-to-back kills to give the Huskies a slim two-point edge. Still leading by two, 23-21, an error by the Golden Flashes pushed the NIU advantage to three and gave NIU a set point. Kent State saved the first set point but Wolowicz found the floor for a kill on the second as NIU took a 2-0 lead into the break.

The Huskies tallied 14 kills in the second set, led by five from Milbrath, Martin added 10 digs. Kent State had 16 kills in the second set, including five from Heather Younkin, but also recorded 10 errors and hit just .120.

In the third set, NIU got off to a good start, taking a 9-4 lead. Kent State fought back to within one, 9-8, but the Huskies scored the next four to lead by five, 13-8. The Golden Flashes trimmed the NIU advantage to a pair, 16-14, before a block from Wolowicz and back-to-back kills from Radtke pushed the NIU advantage to 19-14. Kent State got as close as three but a kill by Milbrath and an error by the Flashes finished the Huskie sweep. 

Radtke had six kills in the final set as NIU hit .314 with 16 kills and just five errors.

Milbrath finished with nine kills and a .304 hitting percentage for NIU, Brereton had 19 digs, McAlpin collected six blocks and senior Chandler Kinley (Lexington, Ky./Lafayette) recorded 48 assists and 14 digs for her seventh double-double of the season. 

"We played steady volleyball," said Gooden. "We didn't let things affect us, we stayed together as a group and did some positive things and ended up being on the good side."

Bittinger led Kent State with 19 kills in the match, Younkin added 15 and Lexi Mantas chipped in a dozen kills. Challen Geraghty recorded a match-high 25 digs for the Golden Flashes. 

NIU will be home again this coming week for a pair of matches, beginning on Wednesday, Oct. 25, when the Huskies host Western Michigan. NIU also hosts Miami (Ohio) on Saturday, Oct. 28; first serve of both matches is set for 7 p.m.