DeKALB, IL – The Northern Illinois University volleyball team was swept 3-0 (21-25, 21-25, 17-25) by the Toledo Rockets Saturday afternoon at Victor E. Court, as the two teams split their weekend series.
"Last night there were a lot of tough, scrappy plays that both teams won their share of," said head coach
Ray Gooden following Saturday's match. "Toledo won the majority of those points today. We had moments where we were doing some good things but then we just had a lot of streaks that put us behind."
Charli Atiemo (Milford, Mich./Farmington Hills Mercy) led NIU with 10 kills as
Katie Jablonski (Elburn, Ill./New Hampshire) added nine. The Huskies had two players with double-digit digs as
Francesca Bertucci (Chicago, Ill./De La Salle) had 11 with
Samantha Juarez (Batavia, Ill./Batavia) recording 10.
Grace Balensiefer (Lafayette, Ind./McCutcheon) dished out 34 assists on the day.
Toledo (16-7, 7-4 MAC) got off to a fast start, winning four of the first five points of the match. NIU was down 9-5 when a
Nikolette Nedic (Willowbrook, Ill./Hinsdale Central) kill and a block by
Ella Mihacevich (Brunswick, Ohio/Padua Franciscan) and
Stella Barr (Elmhurst, Ill./York) got the Huskies within two at 9-7. Toledo responded with a 5-1 run capped by a block by Olivia Vance and Taylor Alt to take a 14-8 lead. The Huskies got as close as three points twice, including fighting off two set points to get within three at 24-21. Alt put down a kill on Toledo's third set point to give the Rockets a 25-21 first set win.
NIU (10-11, 4-7 MAC) bounced back from a 4-0 deficit to start the second set to tie the set at 5-5 on a block by Atiemo and Balensiefer. The Rockets built their lead back up to three at 11-8 on kills from Vance and Jada Bouyer. An
Angie Gromos (West Chicago, Ill./West Chicago) kill sparked a 4-1 NIU run that tied the set at 12. The Rockets broke a 13-13 tie with four consecutive points as a Sinalauli'I Uluave kill put Toledo up 17-13. The Huskies got as close as two at 21-19 on back-to-back Mihacevich kills, but Toledo answered with kills by Rhyen Neal and Elaine Redman to go up 23-19. The two teams traded the final four points with Toledo taking the set 25-21 and a 2-0 lead in the match.
The Huskies took an early 4-1 lead in the third on kills by Mihacevich and Jablonski. Toledo came back with a 5-1 run to go up 6-5. NIU took back the lead at 9-7, taking advantage of a pair of Toledo errors. The Huskies led 10-8 when an Uluave kill sparked a 7-0 Rockets run that gave Toledo a 15-10 advantage. NIU was held to a .095 hitting percentage in the third set as Toledo won it 25-17 and the match 3-0.
NIU is home next weekend to face Kent State and Ohio. The Huskies take on the Golden Flashes of Kent State on Friday, Oct. 29 at 5 p.m. and Ohio next Saturday at 6 p.m. Tickets for both matches are available at NIUHuskies.com/MyHuskies and by calling the NIU Athletics Ticket Office at 815-753-PACK (7225).
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