DAYTON, OH – The Northern Illinois University volleyball team wrapped up its play in the Dayton Invitational Saturday afternoon with a 3-1 (11-25, 25-22, 20-25, 17-25) loss to the Missouri Tigers at the Frericks Center.
"We just haven't been able to put it all together the way you need to against teams of this caliber," said head coach
Ray Gooden. "At times we did some positive things. We got some good production from Brinley [Milbrath] and Peyton [Tilly]. We just weren't able to put it all together at the right times."
NIU (2-5) took an early 4-3 lead in the first set on kills by
Jasmine Kemp (DeKalb, Ill./DeKalb) and
Peyton Tilly (Barrington, Ill./Barrington). Missouri came back with three of the next four points to take a 7-4 lead on a Dariana Hollingsworth-Santana kill. The Huskies closed to within one point at 7-6 on a kill and an ace from
Grace Balensiefer (Lafayette, Ind./McCutcheon), but Missouri rattled off a 14-4 run to take a 21-10 advantage. The Tigers clinched the opening set 25-11 on an Andrea Fuentes service ace.
Just as in the first, the Huskies held an early lead in the second set as kills by
Brinley Milbrath (Cedar Rapids, Iowa/John F. Kennedy) and
Kennedy Wallace (Kansas City, Kan./Piper) spotted NIU a 4-2 lead. The Tigers responded with an 8-1 run capped off by a Tyanna Omazic ace to go ahead 10-5. NIU chipped away at Missouri's advantage and tied the set at 13 on kills by Balensiefer and Tilly. Missouri broke an 18-18 tie with a Kylie Kuyava-Deberg kill and a Fuentes ace, but NIU won four of the next five points with a
Miranda Karlen (Evansville, Wis./Evansville) ace giving the Huskies a 22-21 lead. After Missouri tied the set at 22, three straight kills from Milbrath, Tilly, and Wallace gave NIU the second set 25-22 to even the match at one set apiece.
"I thought we did a nice job of being opportunistic when we needed to be," Gooden said about the second set. "It was really nice to stay consistent and capitalize on our opportunities."
Missouri (4-0) used a 7-2 run early in the third set to take an 11-5 lead. NIU trailed 16-12 when a Kemp kill and a Tigers error made the score 16-14, forcing Missouri to call a timeout. The Huskies closed to within one when a Wallace kill made the score 19-18. The Tigers came back with five of the next six points to earn set point at 24-19 on an Omazic ace. NIU fought off one set point but a Leketor Member-Meneh kill gave Missouri the third set 25-20 and a 2-1 lead in the match.
The Huskies broke a 5-5 tie in the fourth with kills by Kemp and Tilly, as well as an ace from
Kennedy Shelley (Burlington, Colo./Lewis-Palmer), to go up 9-5. Missouri battled back to tie the set at 11 on a Katie Turner ace. After an error put NIU up 12-11, the Tigers won seven of the next nine points to take an 18-14 lead. Missouri had three aces in that stretch. The Tigers' lead stretched to five points when back-to-back kills by Kuyava-Deberg and Omazic made the score 21-16. Those two kills sparked a 6-1 run that gave Missouri the set 25-17 and the match 3-1.
NIU hit .267 against Missouri, with the Tigers hitting .461. Tilly led NIU with 11 kills, hitting .381 for the match. Wallace added nine kills with Milbrath and Kemp adding eight kills each. Balensiefer had 36 assists as Karlen led the match with 16 digs.
The Huskies return to Victor E. Court on Monday, September 9 for a 12 p.m. match against Texas Tech for Military Appreciation Day. Servicemen and women with military identification can receive free admission to Monday's match.
--NIU--
