DEKALB, Ill. – The Northern Illinois University volleyball team won its third consecutive match Thursday night, defeating the Western Michigan Broncos 3-1 (25-15, 20-25, 25-21, 25-19) at Victor E. Court.
 
"We did a good job tonight finishing out the homestand on a positive note," said head coach Ray Gooden, who saw his team go 3-0 on the homefloor to open Mid-American Conference play. "It's always a battle against Western Michigan. We did a nice job starting off, playing to our tempo and pushing pace in the first set. They battled back in the second set, then we battled back and forth in two close sets at the end. We're really happy for our group."
 
It was a complete team effort for NIU Thursday night. Jori Radtke (Buffalo Grove, Ill./Stevenson) led the match with a career-high 18 kills, adding 10 digs. Following the match, the sophomore was deferential to the Huskies' freshman setter Grace Balensiefer (Lafayette, Ind./McCutcheon), who had a career night in her own right.
 
"Grace puts up great balls and sees the block well," said Radtke. "She puts me in a really good spot to hit the ball and be successful."
 
Balensiefer set career-highs with 48 assists, eight kills, and four blocks. She praised NIU's passing for getting to those marks.
 
"The passing was really good tonight," said Balensiefer. "I thought everyone worked together well and we were scrappy against them. We've finally got our rhythm down and are in a good spot right now."
 
NIU (5-13, 3-0 MAC) got off to a fast start in set one, jumping out to an 11-3 lead after back-to-back aces by Kelsy Turskey (Prairie Grove, Ill./Prairie Ridge). The Huskies also had three blocks in their first 11 points. Western Michigan cut the lead to five at 13-8 on a Janell Williams kill, but back-to-back kills by Radtke and Jasmine Kemp (DeKalb, Ill./DeKalb) made the score 15-8. The Huskies hit .333 in the set, running away with a 25-15 win.
 
Western Michigan (10-7, 0-3 MAC) and NIU traded points to open the second set, playing to a 6-6 tie. After a Chrystal McAlpin (Calumet Park, Ill./Shepard) kill put the Huskies ahead 7-6, a Meredith Phillips kill sparked a 7-1 Broncos run that put the visitors ahead 13-8. NIU cut the deficit to two at 15-13 as a pair of Radtke kills started a four-point Huskies run. The Huskies got as close as one at 19-17 before a Phillips kill started a Broncos four-point run that gave Western Michigan a 23-18 lead. The Broncos eventually won the set 25-20 on a Rachel Bontrager kill, tying the match at a set each.
 
NIU battled from an early 10-6 deficit in the third to tie the match at 11-11. A Meg Wolowicz (Manitowoc, Wis./Manitowoc Lincoln) solo block capped a 5-0 Huskies run to level the set. NIU took the lead at 13-12 on a Radtke kill. A 4-1 run by NIU, capped off by back-to-back kills from Radtke, put the Huskies ahead 21-17. Western Michigan cut the deficit to one at 22-21, but the NIU freshmen would put the set away for the Huskies. Kemp and Balensiefer put down kills to give NIU set point at 24-21, and Kemp sealed it with her first career ace to win it 25-21.
 
The fourth set was back-and-forth with Western Michigan taking a 6-5 lead on consecutive kills by Phillips and Mary Murphy. NIU responded with three straight Radtke kills to take an 8-6 lead. The Broncos came back to tie the set 10-10 and the two teams traded points to 12-12. After an Emma Yarber ace put the Broncos ahead 13-12, a Huskies block sparked a 7-1 NIU run that put them ahead 19-14. Wolowicz and Kemp combined for two blocks in that spurt as Brinley Milbrath (Cedar Rapids, Iowa/John F. Kennedy) added a pair of kills as well. Western Michigan got as close as two, but NIU closed the set on a 5-1 run with Radtke's 18^th kill as the exclamation point on a 25-19 win in the set and a 3-1 win in the match.
 
NIU hit a season-high .325 Thursday night, holding Western Michigan to a .230 hitting percentage. The Huskies also held a 10-7 edge in blocks and a 59-53 advantage in digs.  Phillips, Bontrager, and Sammi LaBolle each had 12 kills for the Broncos.
 
"We're making steps offensively," said Gooden. "We want to me more balanced, so tonight the balance came from our middles again. I thought Chrystal [McAlpin] and Jasmine [Kemp] did a really good job attacking from the middle. We also got some help from the right sides with Amanda [Rullan Vilanova] at the beginning and Brinley [Milbrath] closing it out at the end."
 
The Huskies go on the road to face Miami on Sunday at 2 p.m. The match will be broadcast on ESPN3.
 
"We have to use this momentum now," said. "The good news is that a lot of the things we've been seeing in the non-conference season, we're seeing in MAC play. So we saw a team with momentum and how we handled that. Now we have to take that on the road and find ways to be successful."
 
--NIU--