DeKALB, IL – The Northern Illinois University volleyball team held a two sets to one advantage Saturday night over the Miami RedHawks at Victor E. Court but could not hold off Miami in a 3-2 (25-21, 17-25, 25-23, 18-25, 7-15) loss.
 
"We've been trying to execute and the first part of that for us has been the hustle," said head coach Ray Gooden. "After that comes the discipline that leads to execution. I thought we handled ourselves better than we have before. We were able to handle the moment early and I think we exposed ourselves a little bit later on where we didn't handle it as well as we needed to, but that's just part of the experience for our group right now."
 
Freshman Kaitlyn Bell (De Soto, Kan./De Soto) led NIU with a match-high 15 kills, adding three blocks. Kennedy Wallace (Kansas City, Kan./Piper) had a match-high six blocks to go with 11 kills and Peyton Tilly (Barrington, Ill./Barrington) adding 10 kills. Grace Balensiefer (Lafayette, Ind./McCutcheon) had 38 assists as Miranda Karlen (Evansville, Wis./Evansville) led NIU with 22 digs.
 
NIU (6-14, 3-3 MAC) battled out of an 18-13 deficit in the opening set to win it 25-21. The Huskies got two kills from Bell and two blocks by Bell and Wallace in a 7-1 run to take a 20-19 lead. After Miami tied the set at 20 on a Haley Stewart kill, two Bell kills started a 5-1 run that put NIU up 1-0 in the match. Miami responded in the second set, hitting .257 to the Huskies' -.020 to win it 25-17 and tie the match at one set all.
 
The Huskies got out to a 9-7 lead in the third set, powered by kills from Bell and Jasmine Kemp (DeKalb, Ill./DeKalb) as well as a Balensiefer ace. NIU grew the lead to four at 17-13 on back-to-back kills by Bell and Wallace. The RedHawks closed to within two at 20-18 on consecutive kills by Margaret Payne which led to an NIU timeout. NIU responded with a Tilly kill and forced a Miami error to take a 22-18 advantage. Miami got as close as one twice, but a Wallace kill gave the Huskies the set 25-23 and a 2-1 lead in the match. NIU hit .294 in the third, its best hitting mark of the night.
 
Miami (9-8, 4-2 MAC) built a 16-9 lead in the fourth set behind nine kills from Stewart, Payne, Avarie Powell, and Gaby Harper. The Huskies got as close as five points five times, with a Wallace kill making the score 23-18. The RedHawks hit .300 in the set as a Harper kill and an NIU error gave Miami the set 25-18 and forced a deciding fifth set.
 
The Huskies took an early 3-2 lead in the fifth on kills by Tilly and Brinley Milbrath (Cedar Rapids, Iowa/John F. Kennedy). Miami then won the next seven points, getting three kills from Harper, to take a 9-3 lead. The RedHawks lead grew to seven at 11-4 on another Harper kill. A service error and a Samantha Juarez (Batavia, Ill./Batavia) ace got NIU as close as five, 11-6, but that was close as NIU would get. Miami closed the match hitting .571 in the fifth, winning it 15-7 to take the match 3-2.
 
"We have to battle, and we talk all the time about every single match we're going to play in the league is going to be a battle," said head coach Ray Gooden. "When we get into it and get excited, especially at Victor E. Court, we try to do our best with great energy and great crowd support. We always have some things we just got to learn, and battle through and carry ourselves over the top. We started to show that on Thursday, but we got to continue to show it whenever we can."
 
Miami hit .213 for the match as NIU hit .091. The RedHawks also held an 11-8 advantage in blocks and a 75-72 edge in blocks. Harper and Payne each had 15 kills for Miami as the setting duo of Morgan Seaman and Louise Comerford each had 28 assists. Abigail Huser led the match with 25 digs.
 
The Huskies go on the road next weekend to face Akron and Buffalo. NIU takes on the Zips on Friday, Oct. 18 at 6 p.m.
 
--NIU--