BOWLING GREEN, Ohio – Freshman Kaylee Martin (Sterling, Ill./Sterling) recorded a career-high 34 kills but the Northern Illinois University volleyball team fell to Bowling Green in five sets, 20-25, 20-25, 25-23, 25-21, 15-13, on Saturday evening at the Stroh Center.  

Senior Chandler Kinley (Lexington, Ky./Lafayette) had a career-best 59 assists, along with 13 digs, for her fifth double-double of the season while freshman Miranda Karlen (Evansville, Wis./Evansville) had a career-best 25 digs.

"I think we were able to win the right points at the right times in the first set sets and the third and fifth set were a couple plays here-and-there," said NIU head coach Ray Gooden. "It isn't a specific play, it is just a couple plays within those sets that, if we were just able to get that break, we would have had a better chance to find success."

NIU (1-16, 0-2 MAC) led the opening set by three, 11-8, before the Huskies scored five of the next six points to push their advantage to 16-9. The Huskies led the set 22-17 when Bowling Green scored three-straight to get within a pair, but a pair of kills from Martin, sandwiched around a Falcon error, gave the first set to NIU. 

Martin had nine kills in the opening set to lead the Huskies, who tallied 17 as a team; Karlen had eight digs in the opening set for NIU while senior Anna Brereton (Sun Prairie, Wis./Sun Prairie) added seven. Kallie Seimet had 10 digs for Bowling Green in the opening set. 

Brereton finished the match with 25 digs. 

In the second set, the Huskies led 16-15 and used a 5-0 run to take a six-point lead; the run was helped by a pair of kills from Martin and a trio of miscues by Bowling Green. The Falcons never got within less than four in the remainder of the set as Martin finished the second set with another kill. 

Martin posted nine more kills in the second set, hitting .538, while the Huskies held Bowling Green to just 10 kills and a .081 hitting percentage. 

The third set was tied, 22-22, before back-to-back kills from Jessi Holly gave Bowling Green a two-point advantage. Junior Meg Wolowicz (Manitowoc, Wis./Manitowoc Lincoln) saved one set point with a kill for the Huskies but Celena Kanagain finished the set with a kill for the Falcons. 

Nicole Slimko paced the Falcons with five kills in the third; the Falcons had 16 as a team and hit .293. Martin tallied six kills in the third set while Wolowicz added five while hitting .625. 

Wolowicz finished the match with 16 kills and 19.5 points. 

Bowling Green (5-8, 1-1 MAC) held a one-point advantage in the fourth set, 14-13, before scoring four-straight to lead 18-13. The Huskies pulled back within three, 22-19, but the two teams traded the next five points and the Falcons forced the fifth set with a kill from Slimko.

Slimko had six kills in the set for Bowling Green while Seimet had 14 digs in the fourth set for the Falcons. 

The fifth set was tied, 11-11, until Bowling Green scored two-straight to get within two points of a match victory. A kill from Martin brought NIU back within one, but a Huskie error gave the next point to Bowling Green and set-up match point for the Falcons. Martin saved the first match point but Slimko answered with a kill to give the Falcons the fifth set, 15-13, and the match. 

Slimko led Bowling Green with 20 kills, Seimet had a match-high 44 digs for the Falcons. 

NIU will return home next weekend as the Huskies host a pair of matches in Victor E. Court. NIU will welcome Eastern Michigan to DeKalb on Friday night, Sept. 29, before hosting Central Michigan on Saturday, Sept. 30. Both matches are slated to begin at 7 p.m.