CHICAGO – The Northern Illinois University volleyball team moved to 2-2 on the season Tuesday night with a 3-1 (25-19, 24-26, 17-25, 23-25) loss to the Chicago State Cougars at the Jones Convocation Center.
 
"Chicago State did a good job with their serve and put a lot of pressure on us," said head coach Ray Gooden. "We did a good job managing it in the first set, but we didn't maintain that the way we needed to. Tonight we had more pure errors than we had during the weekend."
 
Sophomore setter Grace Balensiefer (Lafayette, Ind./McCutcheon) had her first double-double of the season with 40 assists and 12 digs. Freshman Kaitlyn Bell (De Soto, Kan./De Soto) led the NIU offense with 13 kills as Kennedy Wallace (Kansas City, Kan./Piper) added 12 with three blocks. Peyton Tilly (Barrington, Ill./Barrington) had 10 kills. Miranda Karlen (Evansville, Wis./Evansville) led the Huskies with 15 digs.
 
NIU (2-2) battled through a slow start to the match to take a 7-6 lead on a Tilly kill. The two teams then traded points up to 13-13, when a Chicago State service error and a block by Bell and Jasmine Kemp (DeKalb, Ill./DeKalb) put the Huskies ahead 15-13. NIU extended its lead to four at 19-15 on a block by Wallace and Brinley Milbrath (Cedar Rapids, Iowa/John F. Kennedy). The Huskies hit .258 in the opening set with 12 kills to win it 25-19.
 
Chicago State (1-3) led early in the second set, but a Milbrath kill punctuated a four-point NIU run that put the Huskies up 9-5. NIU led 11-8 when a Kirah Williams-Shepherd kill started a 5-0 Cougars run to put the hosts ahead 13-11. Chicago State led by as much as five before two kills from Milbrath in the span of four points tied the set at 18. The Cougars were up 22-20 when a service error and three straight kills from Tilly and Wallace gave NIU set point at 24-22. The Huskies were not able to cash in, however, as the Cougars won each of the next four points to take the set 26-24 and tie the match at one set all.
 
The Cougars offense came alive in set three. Chicago State hit .242 and held NIU to a -.125 to win it 25-17 and go up 2-1 in the match. The Huskies immediately bounced back to start the fourth, winning seven of the first nine points before a Cougars timeout. Chicago State came back midway through the set with a 5-1 run to take a 14-12 lead. The Cougars led 22-19 win a Bell kill started a three-point NIU run that leveled the set at 22. A kill by Borum Josi and a block by Williams-Shephard and Kayla Malec gave Chicago State match point at 24-22. NIU fought off one match point, but a Beatriz Palmieri kill gave Chicago State the set 25-23 and the match 3-1.
 
"When we were in system, we were doing some really good things," Gooden said. "We just have to work on getting in that more and finding the alternatives we need in situations to be able to put rallies together."
 
NIU hit just .112 in the match with Chicago State hitting .190. The Cougars had six service aces and 12 blocks to the Huskies' two aces and six blocks. Williams-Shepherd led the match with 15 kills, hitting .387.
 
The Huskies go on the road this weekend for the Dayton Invitational. NIU takes on the host Flyers Friday at 11:30 a.m. before a 4 p.m. match against #14 Michigan.
 
--NIU--