YPSILANTI, MI – The Northern Illinois University volleyball team hit .297 and had 11 blocks Friday night but lost 3-0 (23-25, 24-26, 22-25) to the Eastern Michigan Eagles at the EMU Convocation Center.
 
"Tonight was a story of not winning the right points at the right times," said head coach Ray Gooden. "I thought we did a lot of good things with a lot of people, and a lot of times that were positive and helped our group find success. We just had bad timing towards the end and were not able to finish out the first couple sets."
 
Kennedy Wallace (Kansas City, Kan./Piper) and Kaitlyn Bell (De Soto, Kan./De Soto) each led the NIU offense with 12 kills. Brinley Milbrath (Cedar Rapids, Iowa/John F. Kennedy) had 10 kills and hit a match-high .529. Jasmine Kemp (DeKalb, Ill./DeKalb) had nine blocks in the match, tying a career-high and posting three more than Eastern Michigan had as a team.
 
NIU (8-17, 5-6 MAC) opened the first set on a 5-2 run, highlighted by three straight kills from Kemp, Wallace, and Milbrath. After Eastern Michigan came back to tie the set at five, a Tilly kill started a 6-3 Huskies as a block by Milbrath and Kemp put NIU ahead 11-8. The Huskies grew their lead to five at 16-11 on back-to-back Wallace kills. A Raeven Chase kill then started a 4-0 Eagles run to get the hosts within one at 16-15. Eastern Michigan eventually tied the set at 22 when a Franki Strefling kill capped another 4-0 Eagles run. The Eagles earned the first set point at 24-23 on a Riley Taylor ace, then took the set 25-23 on a Julia Fisher kill.
 
Eastern Michigan (9-14, 4-7 MAC) and NIU traded points to open the second set, playing to a 6-6 tie. NIU broke a 10-10 deadlock with kills from Bell and Peyton Tilly (Barrington, Ill./Barrington), as well as an Eagles error, to take a 13-10 lead. Eastern Michigan came back to tie the set at 16 with kills from Chase and Cassie Haut and an ace from Haut. The Huskies then won the next four points with a Millbrath kill giving NIU a 20-16 advantage. Eastern Michigan battled back once again as a Fisher kill and a block by Haut and Samantha Basham tied the set at 23. With the set deadlocked at 24, the Eagles got a Basham kill and Huskies error to win the set 26-24 and go up 2-0 in the match.
 
The Huskies held an early 8-7 lead in the third, but a block by Strefling and Chase started a 3-0 Eagles run that put Eastern Michigan up front 10-8. NIU came back with kills by Milbrath and Tilly to tie the set at 10, but that would be as close as the Huskies would get. Eastern Michigan won the next three points to take a 13-10 lead. The Eagles grew their lead to four at 21-17 on back-to-back kills from Fisher and Strefling. Eastern Michigan led by as much as five before taking the third set 25-22 and sweeping the match.
 
The Huskies held Eastern Michigan to a .252 hitting percentage, but the Eagles held a 7-1 edge in service aces. Fisher led the match with 15 kills.
 
NIU wraps up the weekend at the west division leaders, Central Michigan, Saturday at 4:30 p.m.
 
--NIU--