DeKALB, Ill. – The Northern Illinois University volleyball team got out to a strong start Friday night in its match versus Ball State, winning the first set 25-13, but was unable to sustain that momentum and dropped the next three sets to the Cardinals, 25-18, 25-17, 25-13, at Victor E. Court.
 
 "I thought we had really good energy in the first set and really played well and executed our game plan," said NIU Head Coach Ray Gooden.  "Credit to Ball State, they made a couple of adjustments, they showed why they're the [MAC] West [Division] Champions.  We just got stuck a little bit in a couple of situations."
 
Junior Meg Wolowicz paced the Huskies with a career high 19 kills and hit .516 for the match to lead NIU.  She hit .900 in the first set alone with nine kills in 10 attacks as NIU hit .361 as a team in the first frame.
 
"Meg was doing a really good job of putting herself in spots to be successful and was rewarded for it," Gooden said. "She was a good teammate tonight."
 
NIU raced out to a 9-2 lead in the first set behind Wolowicz and freshman Kaylee Martin, who had five kills and six digs.  Ball State closed the gap to 13-7 but would get no closer.
 
The tide began to turn in the second set as Ball State tied the match before the break.  Wolowicz continued her hot hitting with four kills in eight attacks but the Huskies hit just .102 as a team.  Tied at four-all, Ball State claimed the next two points and never trailed with NIU narrowing the gap to one at 9-8 before a 8-2 run by the Cardinals put BSU ahead 17-10.  NIU was no closer than five points the rest of the set before falling 25-18.
 
 The Huskies did not lead in either the third or fourth sets.  After the break, Ball State scored the first four points of set three before NIU came back to make it a one-point difference at 5-4 before the Cardinals went on a 10-3 run to take a 15-7 advantage.  NIU struggled to put the ball down, hitting -.061 as BSU went up 2-1 in the match.
 
The fourth set was tight through the first third as NIU got a pair of kills from Maddy Katchen to make it a 10-9 game before Ball State scored four straight points and seven of the next eight to claim a 17-10 advantage and never looked back. 
 
With the loss, NIU falls to 7-23 on the season, 6-9 in the MAC while Ball State improves to 18-10, 10-5.
 
The Huskies play their final regular season match of the year Saturday night at 7 p.m. versus Toledo at Victor E. Court.  NIU is battling for a spot in next week's MAC Tournament in Oxford, Ohio.  The top eight teams in the league qualify for the postseason tournament.  Gooden said for NIU, the MAC Tournament starts Saturday.
 
"We've got to finish strong at home," Gooden said.  "We have to treat [Saturday] night like a championship match.  We still have a chance to make it to Oxford, but our tournament starts tomorrow night."
 
NIU will honor seniors Chandler Kinley, Anna Brereton and Taylor Krage before the match.  Tickets are available at the door for $5, $3 for youth.     
 
-- NIU --