BOWLING GREEN, Ohio – The Northern Illinois University volleyball team wrapped up its 2019 season Saturday with a 3-2 (22-25, 25-19, 23-25, 25-23, 10-15) to the Bowling Green Falcons at the Stroh Center.
"We treated tonight like a championship match," said head coach
Ray Gooden. "It was good to see the team do the things they're capable of doing."
The Huskies held a 91-82 advantage in digs led by
Miranda Karlen's (Evansville, Wis./Evansville) career-high 39, which ties for the fourth-most in a single match in program history. Three other Huskies had double-digit digs with
Samantha Juarez (Batavia, Ill./Batavia) collecting 14,
Amanda Krahl (Pearland, Texas/Appalachian State) with 10, and
Grace Balensiefer (Lafayette, Ind./McCutcheon) with 11 to go with 55 assists.
Bowling Green (16-11, 10-5 MAC) opened the match with a 5-2 run capped off by a Katelyn Meyer block. After a
Kennedy Wallace (Kansas City, Kan./Piper) kill got the Huskies within two, the Falcons took six of the next eight points with a Jessi Holly ace making the score 11-5. NIU got within three at 15-12 with a 4-0 run highlighted by a kill from
Peyton Tilly (Barrington, Ill./Barrington). The Huskies tied the set at 17 with a 5-0 run that included a pair of Wallace kills. Bowling Green broke the tie by winning five of the next six points to take a 22-18 lead. The Huskies got as close as two, but the Falcons won the set 25-22 on a Katie Kidwell kill.
NIU (8-21, 5-10 MAC) grabbed the momentum to start the second set, winning the first five points. The Falcons responded by taking five of the next seven points to get within two at 7-5. The Huskies led 8-5 when a Kidwell kill sparked a 6-0 Falcons run that put Bowling Green ahead 11-8. NIU battled back and went on a 9-1 run that included two
Amanda Krahl (Pearland, Texas/Appalachian State) aces and three Wallace kills to take a 19-14 lead. The Falcons cut the lead to four at 21-17 on a pair of Kidwell kills, but the Huskies got kills from
Jasmine Kemp (DeKalb, Ill./DeKalb) and Balensiefer to win the set 25-19 and tie the match at one set all.
"We just needed to take care of the ball better, and we did a good job with our serve and pass," Gooden said. "We cut down on the unforced errors and did what we needed to do to get back in the match."
Bowling Green took an early 6-1 lead in the third behind kills from Kidwell, Meyer and Jacqueline Askin. The Falcons' lead grew to seven at 10-3 on a kill by Nikolija Katanic. Back-to-back kill by Kemp and
Brinley Milbrath (Cedar Rapids, Iowa/John F. Kennedy) sparked a 5-0 Huskies run that put NIU within one point at 12-11. NIU eventually tied the set at 16 on a solo block by Wallace, but a Holly kill and a block by Yelianiz Torres started a 4-1 Bowling Green run that put the hosts ahead 20-17. NIU came back to tie the set 21-21 with a pair of Wallace kills and a block by Kemp and Tilly. Bowling Green won three of the next four points to earn set point at 24-22. NIU fought off one set point but a Meyer kill gave the Falcons a 2-1 lead in the match with a 25-23 win in set three.
The two sides traded the first 14 points of the fourth set before NIU got a Kemp kill and Falcons error to take a 9-7 lead. After Bowling Green tied the set at nine, the Huskies got kills from Milbrath and Balensiefer as well as a Krahl ace to take a 12-9 advantage and force a Falcons timeout. Bowling Green came back behind three Meyer kills to tie the set at 15. The set would be tied five more times before NIU broke a 22-22 tie with a pair of Wallace kills to earn set point at 24-22. NIU won the set 25-23 on a
Kaitlyn Bell (De Soto, Kan./De Soto) kill to force a deciding fifth set.
The Falcons jumped out to a 5-2 lead to start the fifth, getting three straight kills from Meyer before an NIU timeout. The Huskies won the next two points coming out of the timeout to make the score 5-4. Meyer then put down another kill to start a 5-0 Falcons run that gave Bowling Green a 10-4 lead. NIU got as close as four points three times but Bowling Green won the set 15-10 to take the match 3-2.
Wallace led the NIU offense with 21 kills and a .370 hitting percentage, tying a career-high set earlier this season in a five-set win over UC Riverside. She also had a match-high four blocks. Kemp hit .345 with 13 kills as Milbrath added 12 kills while hitting .321. Meyer led the match with 25 kills as Kidwell added 20 for Bowling Green.
"The results aren't the way we wanted them to be, but I feel good in the fact that all of our players improved throughout the year and understand what it means to compete at a championship level," Gooden said about this season. "I'm glad our last match showed the fight our group has."
NIU finishes the 2019 season with an 8-22 record, going 5-11 in Mid-American Conference play.
--NIU--
