DEKALB, Ill. – The Northern Illinois University volleyball team dropped two matches Saturday in the Holiday Inn Express Invitational at Victor E. Court, falling in three sets to the Virginia Cavaliers (18-25, 24-26, 18-25) and five sets to the Northern Kentucky Norse (25-21, 25-23, 28-30, 21-25, 11-15).
 
"I still continue to believe that we can do some things and be a good team," said head coach Ray Gooden following Saturday night's match against Northern Kentucky. "We were doing some good things defensively. Miranda Karlen was doing a nice job digging the ball. I thought we were handling situations pretty well. It just got long, and we just got to a certain point where it got tougher for us."
 
Four Huskies had double-doubles in Saturday's nightcap against Northern Kentucky. Jori Radtke (Buffalo Grove, Ill./Stevenson) set career-highs with 17 kills and 13 digs. Meg Wolowicz (Manitowoc, Wis./Manitowoc Lincoln) had 20 digs for the first time in her career to go along with 16 kills. Grace Balensiefer (Lafayette, Ind./McCutcheon) had 24 assists and 21 digs as Amanda Krahl (Pearland, Texas/Appalachian State) added 14 assists and 11 digs. Libero Miranda Karlen (Evansville, Wis./Evansville) set two career-highs with 31 digs and eight assists.
 
NIU (1-6) jumped out to a 6-1 lead in the first set against the Norse, getting kills from Radtke, Wolowicz, and Kennedy Wallace (Kansas City, Kan./Piper). Northern Kentucky got within two at 11-9 on an NIU error and Shelby Olsen ace. With the score 13-11, the Huskies ran off three straight points with two aces by Karlen to take a 16-11 lead. The Norse closed to within two points late, but Wolowicz put set one away with a kill to give NIU a 1-0 lead with a 25-21 win.
 
Northern Kentucky (3-3) controlled the second set early, taking a 6-2 lead on two kills from Haley Libs and a Bailey Western kill. NIU got within one at 9-8 as a Radtke kill and a block by Chrystal McAlpin (Calumet Park, Ill./Shepard) and Amanda Rullan Vilanova (Bayamon, P.R./Savannah State) highlighted a 3-0 run. The Huskies took their first lead of the set at 13-12 when NIU's fourth block of the set capped a 4-0 run. The Norse led 20-19 when a Wolowicz kill punctuated another four-point run by NIU, giving the Huskies' a 23-20 lead. Northern Kentucky fought off two set points, but a Wolowicz kill put NIU up two sets with a 25-23 victory in the second set.
 
The match turned in the third set. NIU used a 6-1 run, capped off by a Rullan Vilanova kill, to take a 13-5 lead. The Huskies led 20-13 when the Norse went on an 8-1 run highlighted by two Miranda Wucherer kills to tie the set at 21-21. NIU took back the lead at 22-21 on another Rullan Vilanova kill, and earned match point at 24-22 on another Rullan Vilanova kill. Northern Kentucky rallied behind kills by Wucherer and Haley Libs to tie the set 24-24. The two sides traded points up to 28-28. Northern Kentucky recorded a block to go ahead 29-28, then got an ace from Maddy Weber to win the set 30-28 and stay alive in the match.
 
The Norse used an 8-1 run early in the fourth set to take a 15-7 lead. Northern Kentucky grew its lead to 10, 19-9, on an ace by Libs. NIU rallied late, getting within three at 22-19 on a block by Radtke and Jasmine Kemp (DeKalb, Ill./DeKalb) and another Norse error. That would be as close as NIU would get as Northern Kentucky tied the match 2-2 with a 25-21 win in set four.
 
The two sides played to a 7-7 tie to start the fifth and deciding set. The Norse pulled away, taking advantage of a pair of Huskie errors to take a 10-7 lead and prompt an NIU timeout. The Huskies got within one at 10-9 before another 3-0 Northern Kentucky run gave the Norse a 13-9 lead on a Wucherer ace. After a Northern Kentucky service error, McAlpin and Wallace combined for a block to get the Huskies within two, 13-11. Western then put down a solo block to give the Norse match point at 14-11. Northern Kentucky completed the comeback with a kill by Laura Crawford to take the fifth set 15-11 and the match 3-2.
 
"I thought we did a nice job having the momentum in the beginning," said Gooden. "We did a really good job handling that. All Northern Kentucky needed was a break and they got it. From there, they were able to find the momentum. We thought we had chances, but credit to Northern Kentucky for making plays at the end."
 
NIU hit .172 in Saturday night's match while Northern Kentucky hit .195. The two teams combined for 20 blocks and 204 digs, with the Norse holding a 105-99 advantage in the latter. McAlpin tied a career-high with eight blocks as NIU had 12 in the match. Libs led the Norse with 30 kills and 34 digs. Wucherer added 13 kills, 14 digs, and 33 assists.
 
The Huskies opened the day against Virginia, falling 3-0  After getting behind 8-1 in the opening set, NIU rattled off five straight points to get within two at 8-6 on a Kennedy Wallace kill. It was 12-10 Virginia when the Cavaliers went on a 6-2 run to go up 18-12.  Virginia led by as much as eight in the set before taking it 25-18 on an Alex Spencer kill.
 
The Huskies used a 4-0 run that included an Autumn Martin (Tyrone, Ga./FIU) kill and a block by Wallace and McAlpin to take a 12-10 lead in the second set. An Angie Gromos (West Chicago, Ill./West Chicago) solo block put NIU ahead by three, 17-14. The two sides traded points until 23-21 when Virginia tied the set on a Jelena Novakovic kill and NIU error. The Huskies earned a set point at 24-23 on a Novakovic service error, but Virginia tied the set with a Megan Wilson kill. The Cavaliers then earned a set point on a Huskies error at 25-24, and took the set 26-24 on a Kat Young kill to go up 2-0.
 
Just as in the second set, NIU battled back from an early deficit. Sparked by back-to-back Radtke kills, the Huskies went on a 5-0 run to tie the set 12-12. Virginia came back with a 7-2 run of its own as a Grace Turner ace put the Cavaliers in the lead 19-14. NIU got as close as four points, but Virginia took the set 25-18 and the match 3-0.
 
Virginia (2-4) hit .321 for the match, holding NIU to .155. Radtke led the Huskies with 13 kills as McAlpin hit .600 with six kills. Martin also had six kills.
 
The Huskies go on the road for the first time in 2018 next weekend as NIU plays in the Hampton Inn Bama Bash, hosted by Alabama. NIU will play Georgia Tech on Friday, Sept. 7 at 12 p.m. followed by a 5:00 match against Marshall. The Huskies will play the host Crimson Tide on Saturday, Sept. 8 at 1 p.m.
 
--NIU--
 
Holiday Inn Express Invitational All-Tournament Team
Kayla Afoa – Nevada (MVP)
Dalyn Burns – Nevada
Kelsey Miller – Virginia
Sarah Billiard – Virginia
Haley Libs – Northern Kentucky
Grace Balensiefer – NIU