TOLEDO, OH – The Northern Illinois University volleyball team put three players in double-figure kills and had nine blocks Saturday night in a 3-1 (25-23, 18-25, 28-26, 25-13) win over the Toledo Rockets at Savage Arena.
 
"We did a better job of controlling what we could control," said head coach Ray Gooden. "I thought we did a really good job from the service line. We've improved on our serve receive and first contacts which put us in system more. I think probably the coolest part is we were able to battle through some adversity and work together as a group."
 
Peyton Tilly (Barrington, Ill./Barrington) led the Huskies with 15 kills, hitting .281 in the match. Kaitlyn Bell (De Soto, Kan./De Soto) added 14 kills as Kennedy Wallace (Kansas City, Kan./Piper) had 12 kills with a match-high six blocks. Setter Grace Balensiefer (Lafayette, Ind./McCutcheon) posted a double-double with 50 assists and 10 digs, adding four kills and tying a career-high with four blocks.
 
NIU (5-13, 2-2 MAC) erased an early 5-1 deficit in set one with a 6-1 run capped by kills from Balensiefer and Bell to take a 9-7 lead. After Toledo tied the set 13-13, a Wallace kill started a 4-1 Huskies run that put NIU in front 17-14. The Rockets then got a kill from Ryann Jaqua to spark a 6-1 run that gave Toledo a 20-18 advantage. NIU trailed 23-21 when a service error put the Huskies on serve 23-22. Wallace followed that with a solo block to tie the set at 23. Tilly then put down a kill to give the Huskies set point at 24-23, which the Huskies converted with a block by Wallace and Balensiefer to give NIU the first set 25-23.
 
Toledo (7-9, 0-4) bounced back in the second set by taking five of the first six points. The Rockets' lead grew to seven at 9-2 on a Jaqua service ace and a Zoe Birnbrich kill. NIU took advantage of some Toledo errors to get back in the set, with a pair of Tilly kills getting the Huskies within four at 15-11. The Huskies got within four points at 17-13 before a pair of errors helped Toledo go on a 5-2 run to take a 22-15 lead. The Rockets took the set 25-18, hitting .333 to tie the match at one set all.
 
The Huskies bounced back from a 4-1 deficit early in the third set, using a 5-1 run capped off by a Samantha Juarez (Batavia, Ill./Batavia) ace to take a 6-5 lead. Kills by Olivia Vance and Chloee Kleespies kickstarted a 7-1 Rockets run that put Toledo up 13-8. Trailing 16-11, NIU got kills from Tilly and Amanda Krahl (Pearland, Texas/Appalachian State) along with a block to get within two at 16-14. Toledo was up 22-20 when a pair of Wallace kills sparked a 4-1 NIU run that gave the Huskies set point at 24-23. Toledo fought off the set point to tie the set, and eventually had a set point of its own when a Kleespies kill and an NIU error put the Rockets up 26-25. The Huskies tied the set on a Balensiefer kill, then won the set on a Krahl kill and a Balensiefer ace to win the set 28-26 and go up 2-1 in the match.
 
NIU broke a 3-3 tie in the fourth with three kills from Bell to take a 7-4 lead. The Huskies' lead grew to five when back-to-back kills by Tilly and Bell made the score 12-7. NIU led 14-10 when a block by Bell and Jasmine Kemp (DeKalb, Ill./DeKalb) started a four-point run to give the Huskies an 18-10 lead. The Huskies ran away with the final set, hitting .394 with three blocks while holding Toledo to an .083 mark. NIU won seven of the last nine points with a Wallace kill capping a 25-13 win in the fourth set and the 3-1 win in the match.
 
"We were able to find a lot of positives and string points along," Gooden said about the clinching fourth set. "I thought Amanda Krahl came in and did a really good job serving in spots to allow us to have positive runs. I think our rhythm really helped us put a lot of pressure on the Rockets."
 
The Huskies hit .235 for the match, holding Toledo to a .208 mark. NIU held a 65-63 advantage in digs led by Miranda Karlen's (Evansville, Wis./Evansville) match-high 19. Birnbrich led Toledo with 16 kills as setter Megan Beasley had 44 assists and 13 digs.
 
NIU is back on the road on Thursday, October 10 for a 5 p.m. match at Western Michigan.
 
--NIU--