ATHENS, Ohio – The Northern Illinois University volleyball team won its first five-set match of the season Saturday night, rallying from 2-1 down for a 3-2 (25-23, 25-27, 17-25, 32-30, 15-7) win over the Ohio Bobcats at the Ohio Convocation Center.
 
"It was a great team effort tonight against an Ohio team that's always tough at home," said head coach Ray Gooden. "I thought we had a lot of grit and found different ways to score and got contributions from many different people. We put it all together tonight after coming up short last night in five."
 
The Huskies had three players in double-figure kills Saturday night, led by senior Meg Wolowicz (Manitowoc, Wis./Manitowoc Lincoln) who had 24 kills and 16 digs while hitting .293. Jori Radtke (Buffalo Grove, Ill./Stevenson) had 19 kills and 11 digs, and Brinley Milbrath (Cedar Rapids, Iowa/John F. Kennedy) had a career-high 12 kills. Grace Balensiefer (Lafayette, Ind./McCutcheon) had a career-high 60 assists and 20 digs, becoming the first Huskie since Alexis Gonzalez in 2015 to have at least 60 assists in a match. Miranda Karlen (Evansville, Wis./Evansville) led the match with 25 digs while Kennedy Wallace (Kansas City, Kan./Piper) led all players with a career-high eight blocks.
 
NIU (8-17, 6-4 MAC) opened the match by taking a 5-3 lead on kills by Radtke, Wolowicz, and Wallace. The Huskies led 6-4 when a Jaime Kosiorek kill sparked a 6-1 Ohio run that put the Bobcats ahead 10-7. Kosiorek had four kills in that stretch. NIU hung with the Bobcats, and at 16-13 went on a 4-0 run capped by a Milbrath kill to take a 17-16 lead.
 
Ohio (9-14, 4-6 MAC) responded with a three-point run of its own to regain the lead, 19-17. A Chrystal McAlpin (Calumet Park, Ill./Shepard) kill started a 4-1 run for the Huskies as another Wallace kill gave NIU a 21-20 lead and forced an Ohio timeout. The advantage grew to three at 23-20 after kills by Wallace and Milbrath. The Bobcats used a Tia Jimerson kill to go on a 3-0 run to tie the set 23-23. NIU won the final two points as a Radtke kill and Ohio error gave the Huskies the set 25-23 and a 1-0 lead in the match.
 
The Huskies rode the momentum from the first set win into the second, taking a 5-1 lead on kills by Wallace, Milbrath, and Radtke. Ohio then won six of the next eight points, getting kills from Jimerson and Stephanie Olman as well as a block to tie the set 7-7. NIU took back the lead on a Wolowicz kill, then went ahead 11-8 on a block by Wolowicz and McAlpin. The Bobcats closed the gap to one at 13-12 on a kill and a block by Dahlias Bouyer. The Huskies responded with two Milbrath kills as part of a 4-0 run to take a 17-12 lead. NIU led 19-15 when kills by Kosiorek and Jimerson sparked a 6-1 Bobcats run that put Ohio ahead 21-20. The Bobcats had set point at 24-22, but a Wolowicz kill and ace tied the set 24-24. With the set tied at 25, Lizzie Stephens put down a kill and an ace to give Ohio the set 27-25 and a 1-1 tie in the match.
 
Ohio used a 5-0 run, capped by a Jimerson kill, to break a 2-2 tie and take a 7-2 lead to start the third. The lead grew to nine at 12-3 after another 5-0 run that included two Stephens kills and an ace from Kosiorek. A Wolowicz kill sparked a 4-0 NIU run that put the Huskies within five at 13-8. NIU closed the gap to three, 14-11, on kills by Radtke and Wolowicz. However, Ohio got back up by six as kills from Kosiorek and Olman made the score 19-13. The Bobcats took the set 25-17 to take a 2-1 lead.
 
NIU took a quick 3-1 lead to start the fourth set, getting kills from McAlpin and Milbrath. Ohio ran off three straight points to take a 4-3 lead. The two teams traded points up to 8-8, when NIU used kills by Wolowicz and Milbrath highlighted a 4-0 Huskies run to put them ahead 12-8. The Bobcats answered with a 5-1 run, highlighted by two Stephens kills, to tie the set at 13. NIU then won the next four points, as a block and a kill by Radtke gave the Huskies a 17-13 advantage. Ohio closed the gap to one at 17-16, but kills by Wolowicz and Wallace gave NIU a 20-17 lead.
 
The Huskies led 23-21 when an Olman kill and Jimerson block tied the set at 23, leading to an NIU timeout. NIU then had set point at 24-23 after an Ohio service error. Ohio then had match point as a Kosiorek kill and Virginia Natale ace put the Bobcats up 25-24. Radtke tied the match with a kill at 25-25, with a Wolowicz kill giving NIU another set point at 26-25. Ohio fought off the set point with a Kosiorek kill then had another match point when Meredith Howe served an ace to make the score 27-26. NIU fought off three match points to get the set to 29-29, all coming on Wolowicz kills. The Huskies had set point again at 30-29 after a block by Milbrath and McAlpin, but a JImerson kill tied the set at 30. NIU took the set 32-30, getting a kill from Radtke and a block by Milbrath and Wallace, to force a fifth set for the third straight match.
 
"We've been in this spot before, and we knew we had to get off to a fast start," Gooden said about heading into the fifth. "We learned from last night about having a good start, and so we definitely put that out there as a focus for tonight and the group responded."
 
NIU opened the deciding fifth set with a 3-1 run, capped off by back-to-back Milbrath kills. Ohio then won the next three points as a pair of Stephens aces put the Bobcats ahead 4-3. The Huskies then got consecutive solo blocks by Wallace to start a 3-0 run that put NIU up 6-4. NIU's lead grew to four at 9-5 on kills by Radtke, Wolowicz, and Wallace, and six at 11-5 following a Wallace solo block. Ohio stopped the Huskies' run at five straight points, but back-to-back kills by Wolowicz gave NIU a 13-6 lead. Wolowicz earned the win for the Huskies, putting down two more kills to give NIU the set 15-7 and the match 3-2.
 
"I thought there were a lot of really good volleyball plays on both sides," said Gooden. "Ohio did some great things at times, and we did some really good things at times. We got to the short set again, where this time we had a good start and did some really nice things to finish it out."
 
The Huskies hit .226 for the match, holding Ohio to a .188 mark. NIU hit .562 in the fifth set and held the Bobcats to a -.176. The Huskies also held a 12-10 edge in blocks and a 92-85 advantage in blocks. Kosiorek led Ohio with 24 kills as Stephens had 21 kills and six aces.
 
NIU continues its five-match road trip next weekend with matches at Ball State and Toledo. The Huskies take on the Cardinals on Friday, October 26 at 6 p.m.
 
--NIU--