SAN ANTONIO, Texas – The Northern Illinois University volleyball team was swept Saturday 3-0 (11-25, 13-25, 19-25) by the Delaware Blue Hens in its final match at the Cardinal Classic hosted by Incarnate Word.
 
"We had a lot of good points, but we just couldn't string them together," said head coach Ray Gooden. "Those stretches were the difference in the match."
 
Freshman Peyton Tilly (Barrington, Ill./Barrington) led the Huskies with seven kills as Brinley Milbrath (Cedar Rapids, Iowa/John F. Kennedy) added five. Grace Balensiefer (Lafayette, Ind./McCutcheon) had 18 assists and a team-high six digs. Miranda Karlen (Evansville, Wis./Evansville) had four digs, eclipsing 1,000 digs for her career.
 
"It's nice for Miranda to reach that milestone," Gooden said. "She's put in the work to reach that mark."
 
NIU (3-8) fell behind early in the first set but managed to get within two points of the Blue Hens at 8-6 on a Kaitlyn Bell (De Soto, Kan./De Soto) kill and a Delaware error. Delaware took advantage of a Huskies error and three Bailey Pearlman aces to go on a 7-0 run and take a 15-6 lead. The Blue Hens hit .350 in the opening set and held NIU to a -.042 mark in winning it 25-11 to go up 1-0.
 
Delaware (8-1) took an 8-4 lead early in the second set on two Ayala Plummer kills and aces by Lani Mason and Andie Hanus. The Huskies got a kill from Balensiefer to get within three before a Pearlman kill started 4-1 Blue Hens run put Delaware ahead 12-6. Delaware stretched its lead to 10 at 20-10 on a kill by Ezgi Basaranlar. The Blue Hens took the set 25-13 on a Mason kill to take a 2-0 lead in the match.
 
In the third, Delaware won 10 of the first 14 points. NIU chipped away at the Blue Hens' lead, closing to within two points at 11-9 when a block by Milbrath and Angie Gromos (West Chicago, Ill./West Chicago) capped a 4-0 run. The Blue Hens pulled away with an 8-2 run sparked by a block by Mason and Adelina Rivera to take a 20-12 lead. NIU got as close as five points when a Balensiefer ace made the score 23-18, but Delaware took the set 25-19 and the match 3-0.
 
The Huskies are back in action on Tuesday, September 17 at 6 p.m. when NIU travels up to Milwaukee to face the Panthers.
 
--NIU--