OXFORD, OH – The Northern Illinois University volleyball team rallied from two sets down to defeat the Miami RedHawks 3-2 (23-25, 22-25, 25-18, 25-18, 15-11) at Millett Hall Saturday afternoon.
 
"I'm really thankful for the fight in our group tonight," said head coach Ray Gooden following Saturday's comeback victory. "We were battling in the beginning and came up short in the first two sets. They did not want to end this road trip this way, so they put in the mindset to take it up another notch and I think it showed not just in the scores, but in the level of play."
 
It was the Huskies' first win from 0-2 down since Oct. 31, 2018 at Western Michigan. NIU got a major lift from some of its freshmen Saturday. Nikolette Nedic (Willowbrook, Ill./Hinsdale Central) led the match with a season-high 23 kills. Charli Atiemo (Milford, Mich./Farmington Hills Mercy) had 13 kills and hit a match-high .458. Defensively, Stella Barr (Elmhurst, Ill./York) led all players with a season-high seven blocks as Francesca Bertucci (Chicago, Ill./De La Salle) had a match-high 30 digs.
 
NIU (9-8, 3-4 MAC) fell behind 10-5 in the third, but rallied to take a 15-12 lead on an 8-1 run punctuated by two Nedic kills. Miami got within one at 15-14 on a Lindsay Taylor kill. The Huskies grew their lead back up to four when a Nedic kill made the score 18-14. NIU took a seven-point advantage at 22-15 on a block by Barr and Nedic along with two Ella Mihacevich (Brunswick, Ohio/Padua Franciscan) kills. The Huskies had 5.5 blocks in the set, the last 1.5 coming on set point as Atiemo, Mihacevich, and Kaitlyn Bell combined to block a Sophie Riemersma attack to give NIU the set 25-18 and new life in the match.
 
NIU had its best hitting set of the match in the fourth, hitting .286 while holding Miami to just .100. Behind three kills from Nedic, the Huskies raced out to a 6-2 lead. The RedHawks got within one at 7-6 on a Brooke Cirigliano kill, but three straight NIU points put the Huskies up 10-6. After an NIU error got the RedHawks within one point again at 13-12, a Grace Balensiefer (Lafayette, Ind./McCutcheon) kill sparked an 8-1 Huskies run that gave them a 21-13 lead. Barr put away the set with a kill at set point at 24-18, forcing a fifth and deciding set.
 
"We were more opportunistic and determined as the match went on," Gooden said. "We took more risks and put ourselves out there more, and that's what we needed to get to another level."
 
Behind two kills from Nedic, NIU took a 3-0 lead to start the fifth set. NIU took advantage of a pair of Miami kills to take a 6-2 lead, which led to a RedHawks timeout. Miami closed the gap to one at 7-6 on a block by Maggy McCrary and Gaby Harper and two McCrary kills. NIU, however, won the next three points to take a 10-6 lead. The Huskies earned match point at 14-11 on a block by Balensiefer and Barr. NIU completed the comeback thanks to a Miami error on match point, winning the fifth set 15-11 to win the match 3-2.
 
"This eventually got to be one of those nights where we were just playing the play and not score-watching," said Gooden. "Our level of communication, level of grit, level of courage all increased and we need that. We need moments like that. I'm just happy for our group that they were able to go out there and fight and come back for the win."
 
Miami (2-14, 0-6 MAC) hit .261 in the first set to come from behind and win it 25-23. The Huskies erased a 19-14 RedHawks lead to take a 23-22 lead, only to see Miami win the final three points to take the set. The RedHawks broke a 21-21 tie in set two with three straight kills from Riemersma and Taylor to win it 25-22.
 
NIU hit .212 for the match with Miami hitting .154. Balensiefer had a double-double with 55 assists and 10 digs, adding four blocks. The RedHawks held an 88-82 advantage in digs with the Huskies taking a 12.5-11.0 edge in blocks. Harper led Miami with 15 kills, adding 13 digs. Lydia Harper had 47 assists and 11 digs.
 
The Huskies are on the road next weekend for two matches at Ball State. The series begins on Friday, Oct. 15 at Worthen Arena at 5:30 p.m. CT.
 
--NIU--