BOWLING GREEN, OH – The Northern Illinois University volleyball team opened its current four-match road trip Friday night with a 3-0 loss (22-25, 16-25, 22-25) to the Bowling Green Falcons at Stroh Center.
 
"Bowling Green is experienced and play real tough," said head coach Ray Gooden. "They are also very consistent. Our group played hard tonight, but we just didn't get the results we were looking for in order to get over the hump."
 
Junior outside hitter Katie Jablonski (Elburn, Ill./New Hampshire) recorded her sixth straight double-double on Friday. Jablonski, the reigning Mid-American Conference West Division Offensive Player of the Week, led NIU with 11 kills and 13 digs. Nikolette Nedic (Willowbrook, Ill./Hinsdale Central) added nine kills and three blocks. Charli Atiemo (Milford, Mich./Farmington Hills Mercy) led the match with four blocks as Ella Mihacevich (Brunswick, Ohio/Padua Franciscan) and Stella Barr (Elmhurst, Ill./York) each had three.
 
After trading points to start the match, Bowling Green (9-6, 5-0 MAC) used a 5-1 run to take an 8-5 lead on a Katelyn Meyer kill. The Huskies used a 4-1 run later in the set to get within one when a Mihacevich ace made the score 16-15. The Falcons grew their lead to four points at 20-16 on a Katie Kidwell ace, but NIU came right back with another 4-1 run. A block by Mihacevich and Barr got the Huskies within one at 21-20. With the score 23-22, Bowling Green got a block from Kidwell and Petra Indrova and an Indrova kill to win the set 25-22 to take a 1-0 lead.
 
"You've always got to have your foot on the gas," Gooden said. "Everytime we took a breath was when they went on another run. We kept chasing but were never able to tie the match or take the lead."
 
NIU (8-8, 2-4 MAC) fell behind 14-9 in the second set, but got back in the set by winning the next three points to make the score 14-12 on a Jablonski kill. Bowling Green called a timeout and responded by winning the next six points to take a 20-12 lead. Julia Walz had three aces in that run. The Falcons hit .294 in the set to win it 25-16 and go ahead 2-0.
 
Bowling Green used a 5-0 run early in the third to take a 6-1 lead. The Huskies got within two when an Atiemo kill and a Jablonski ace made the score 7-5. The Falcons grew their lead up to five when kllls by Indrova and Kat Mandly put Bowling Green up 13-8. Bowling Green took its largest lead of the set at 18-10 following an NIU error. A Jablonski kill started a 7-0 Huskies run that got NIU back within a point, 18-17. The Falcons came back with a 5-0 run of their own to take a 23-17 lead on back-to-back Meyer kills. The Huskies got as close as two when a Nedic kill fought off a match point and made the score 24-22. Meyer locked up the match with her 14^th kill of the night to give the Falcons the set 25-22 and the match 3-0.
 
Indrova led the match with 16 kills. Bowling Green hit .237 for the match, holding NIU to .092. The Huskies held a 7.0-5.0 edge in blocks with the Falcons holding a 54-45 advantage in digs.
 
NIU is back in action Saturday afternoon at Miami. First serve against the RedHawks at Millett Hall is set for 4 p.m. CT.
 
--NIU--