MUNCIE, IN – The Northern Illinois University volleyball team moved to 1-2 on the Mid-American Conference season Friday night with a 3-0 (19-25, 19-25, 24-26) loss to the Ball State Cardinals at Worthen Arena.
"We knew that first contact was going to be a really important thing, and I thought we did a nice job with our service," said head coach
Ray Gooden. "Credit to Ball State, they did a little better job not only with their serve receive but their service tonight."
Jasmine Kemp (DeKalb, Ill./DeKalb) led NIU with 12 kills, tying a career-high set on August 30 against Fairleigh Dickinson. The sophomore middle blocker hit .500 in the match.
Kennedy Wallace (Kansas City, Kan./Piper) added eight kills and a match-high four blocks.
"When we were in system I thought those guys executed," Gooden said. "That was what we were trying to do and we did a good job with it."
Grace Balensiefer (Lafayette, Ind./McCutcheon) dished out 35 assists as
Miranda Karlen (Evansville, Wis./Evansville) had a team-high 13 digs.
NIU (4-13, 1-2 MAC) used four kills from Wallace and Kemp to battle back from an early 4-2 deficit in set one to tie it at seven. Ball State broke the tie with three straight kills from Marie Plitt and Natalie Risi to take a 10-7 lead. The Huskies got within a point at 17-16 with a
Brinley Milbrath (Cedar Rapids, Iowa/John F. Kennedy) kill. A Sydnee VanBeek kill sparked a 5-0 Cardinals run with a pair of Amber Seaman aces giving Ball State a 22-16 lead. Ball State hit .412 in the opening set to win it 25-19.
The Huskies got out to a fast 4-1 lead in the second set on the strength of a
Kennedy Shelley (Burlington, Colo./Lewis-Palmer) ace and a block by Milbrath and Wallace. Ball State responded with a 4-0 run capped by a Seaman ace to take a 5-4 lead. The two sides traded points up to 7-7 when a Natalie Mitchem kill kickstarted a 9-1 Ball State run that gave the Cardinals a 16-8 lead. Risi had three kills in that stretch. NIU trailed 22-11 when a
Peyton Tilly (Barrington, Ill./Barrington) kill started a 5-2 Huskies run to get them within six at 23-17. The Cardinals took the set 25-19 on a MyKel Ivy kill to take a 2-0 lead in the match.
Ball State (8-7, 2-1 MAC) and NIU traded points to start the third, with the Cardinals taking a 6-5 lead on a Plitt solo block. The Huskies won the next three points as kill from Bell and Milbrath and a Balensiefer ace gave NIU an 8-6 advantage. Ball State responded in kind as two Michem kills and a Plitt kill put the Cardinals ahead 9-8. With the set tied at 14, NIU took its largest lead of the set as kills by Wallace and
Kaitlyn Bell (De Soto, Kan./De Soto) put the Huskies up 17-14. NIU led 21-18 when a Risi kill started a 5-1 Cardinals run that gave the hosts a 23-22 lead. A Kemp kill and a block by Kemp and Balensiefer gave NIU set point at 24-23. The Cardinals then won the next three points, with a block by VanBeek and Allison Hamaker capping the final run that gave Ball State the set 26-24 and the match 3-0.
The Huskies hit .245 match for the match with Ball State hitting .387. The Cardinals held a 49-38 advantage in digs with NIU holding a 5-4 edge in blocks. Risi led the match with 17 kills, hitting .400. Seaman had 43 assists and three aces.
NIU is back in action Saturday night at Toledo. First serve is at 7 p.m.
--NIU--
