SAN ANTONIO, Texas – The Northern Illinois University volleyball team split its first two matches at the Cardinal Classic at Incarnate Word on Friday, defeating the Niagara Purple Eagles in four sets after a three-set loss to the host Cardinals.
 
"I thought we had a really good start against Incarnate Word," said head coach Ray Gooden. "We just were not able to play as consistently as we needed to, and credit Incarnate Word for playing aggressively against us. In the second match, we did a nice job of playing more complete volleyball and more together volleyball. Our middles had a real good output from an attacking standpoint."
 
NIU (3-7) hit a season-high .302 in its 3-1 (25-17, 23-25, 25-19, 25-20) win over Niagara. Kennedy Wallace (Kansas City, Kan./Piper) led four Huskies with double-digit kills with 18, hitting .455 for the match. Angie Gromos (West Chicago, Ill./West Chicago) and Brinley Milbrath (Cedar Rapids, Iowa/John F. Kennedy) each hit .417 and both set a new career-high with 13 kills each. Peyton Tilly (Barrington, Ill./Barrington) added 10 kills. Grace Balensiefer (Lafayette, Ind./McCutcheon) had her second double-double of the year with 44 assists and a team-high 16 digs.
 
"It all starts with a good first contact," Gooden said. "I thought we did a nice job of handling the first ball to put more people in situations where they can find success. I thought our first contact was handled a lot better and that led to us getting better balance offensively."
 
The Huskies got off to a fast start against the Purple Eagles. NIU won six of the first nine points and used a 5-0 run that included two Gromos kills and two Balensiefer aces to take a 13-7 lead. Sparked by another Gromos kill, NIU went on a 6-1 run to go up 20-10. NIU hit .464 in the opening set as a Milbrath kill capped a 25-17 opening set win.
 
Niagara (1-5) led for much of the second set. The Huskies made a run late in the set to take a 22-20 lead. Gromos and Tilly started a 5-2 run with back-to-back kills with Amanda Krahl (Pearland, Texas/Appalachian State) adding an ace as well. NIU led 23-22 when the Purple Eagles got a Mary Redl-Harge kill and consecutive blocks to win the set 25-23 and tie the match 1-1.
 
NIU used a 4-0 run early in the third set to take a 7-4 lead. Back-to-back kills by Milbrath and Bell gave the Huskies an 11-7 lead. Niagara got as close as one point at 17-16, but a Balensiefer kill kickstarted a 6-1 run that gave NIU a 23-17 advantage. Wallace gave the Huskies set point with NIU's 19^th kill of the third set at 24-19, and a Niagara error gave NIU the set 25-19 and a 2-1 lead in the match.
 
"We knew we were doing some good things in the second set, but we just were not as strong at the end of it," said Gooden. "To come out and have a good response like we did in the third was important."
 
Just as in the third set, NIU used an early big run to take the lead. A Milbrath kill sparked a 6-0 Huskies run that included two Wallace kills and put NIU in front 8-4. Niagara battled back to tie the set at 11, and the two teams traded points up to 18-18. A Gromos kill broke that tie with a block by Gromos and Bell putting NIU ahead by two, 20-18. The Huskies led 22-20 when a Purple Eagles error started a three-point NIU run that clinched the set and the match. Miranda Karlen's (Evansville, Wis./Evansville) fourth ace of the match gave NIU match point at 24-20, and Kennedy Shelley (Burlington, Colo./Lewis-Palmer) punctuated the match with her first career kill to give NIU the set 25-20 and the match 3-1.
 
NIU opened the day with a 3-0 (25-27, 18-25, 13-25) loss to the host Cardinals. The Huskies opened the match on a 10-3 run capped off by three straight kills from Bell and Balensiefer. NIU led 12-7 when Incarnate Word rattled off five straight points to get within two points at 12-10. The Huskies grew the lead back to four at 15-11 on a block by Gromos and Jasmine Kemp (DeKalb, Ill./DeKalb). The Cardinals battled back and eventually took a 21-20 lead on a Pilar Gonzaba ace. The two teams traded points until 23-22 when a Wallace solo block and kill gave the Huskies set point at 24-23. After an Incarnate Word block tied the set at 24, Tilly put down a kill to give NIU another set point at 25-24. The Cardinals then won the next three points as a Julia Monday kill gave Incarnate Word the set 27-25.
 
Incarnate Word (3-4) built a 12-8 lead in the second set. NIU used a four-point run capped off by a Shelley ace to get within a point at 14-13. The Cardinals responded with a 5-0 run highlighted by two blocks to take a 19-13 lead. The Huskies got as close as four points but Incarnate Word closed the second set like it did the first, winning three straight point to take the set 25-18 and a 2-0 lead in the match. The Cardinals rode that momentum into the third set, winning nine of the first 10 points. Incarnate Word hit a match-high .438 in the set to win it 25-13 and the match 3-0.
 
Bell and Wallace each led NIU with nine kills against Incarnate Word. Wallace hit .727 in the match and added a pair of blocks. Karlen had a match-high 15 digs.
 
The Huskies wrap up their weekend in San Antonio on Saturday, September 14 at 11 a.m. against Delaware.
 
--NIU--