DeKALB, IL – The Northern Illinois University volleyball team hit a season-high .230 Thursday night at Victor E. Court but it was not enough to get past the Eastern Michigan Eagles in a four-set (20-25, 25-23, 25-27, 21-25) loss in the first match of the series between the two teams.
 
Katie Jablonski (Elburn, Ill./New Hampshire) and Kennedy Wallace (Kansas City, Kan./Piper) each had a team-high 13 kills for the Huskies. Wallace hit .345 with five blocks as Jablonski had a double-double with 16 digs. Kaitlyn Bell (De Soto, Kan./De Soto) had 12 kills and four blocks. Grace Balensiefer (Lafayette, Ind./McCutcheon) dished out 51 assists and added 14 digs and four blocks.
 
"Kennedy Wallace came on strong and did some good things tonight, and Kaitlyn Bell had a productive night as well," said head coach Ray Gooden. "We just have to continue to put it all together. Credit Eastern for battling through tonight and winning the tough points. There were a few where we're right there and unfortunately give up that point, and they score two and before you know it we're down three and it's hard for us to come back."
 
NIU (1-6, 1-6 MAC) used a 6-0 run early in the first set to take a 10-6 lead. Angie Gromos (West Chicago, Ill./West Chicago) had three straight kills in the run to put the Huskies in the lead. Eastern Michigan responded with a four-point run to tie the set at 11. With the set tied at 14, back-to-back Samantha Basham kills sparked a 3-0 Eagles run to give Eastern Michigan a 17-14 lead. The Eagles grew their lead to five at 22-19 following kills by April Houston and Abbey Kearney, eventually winning the set 25-20 to take a 1-0 lead in the match.
 
Eastern Michigan (1-2, 1-2 MAC) ran out to a 5-2 lead in the second on a block by Houston and Basham. NIU battled back to tie the set at eight following kills from Bell and JoDee Kovanda (Lockport, Ill./West Florida). The Huskies broke an 11-11 tie with a 7-2 run capped by a block by Balensiefer and Wallace to go ahead 18-13. NIU led by as much as seven as two more Bell kills put the home team up 22-15. Gromos gave the Huskies set point with a kill at 24-19, but the Eagles fought off four set points to make the score 24-23. Kovanda won the set for NIU with her fourth kill of the set, giving the Huskies a 25-23 win and a 1-1 tie in the match.
 
The third set was a back-and-forth affair with 13 ties and four lead changes. The Eagles grabbed the upper hand early, taking a 9-6 lead on kills by Kearney and Franki Strefling. NIU tied the set at nine but a 5-2 Eastern Michigan run put the visitors up 14-11. The Eagles led 16-14 when a Wallace kill started a 4-0 NIU run that put the Huskies ahead 18-16. Eastern Michigan came back to take a 20-19 lead and the two teams traded points up to 25-25. The Eagles broke the tie on an NIU error and a Jayden Otto kill to win the set 27-25 and take a 2-1 lead overall.
 
Eastern Michigan used an 8-3 run, capped by three straight Strefling kills, in the fourth set to take a 13-8 lead which led to an early NIU timeout. The Huskies chipped away at the Eagles' lead and got within three at 16-13 on a Jasmine Kemp (DeKalb, Ill./DeKalb) kill. The two teams then traded the points the rest of the way with a Strefling kill giving the Eagles the set 25-21 and the match 3-1.
 
The Eagles hit .271 on the night behind Strefling's 23 kills with a .400 hitting percentage. She also had a match-high 26 digs. The Eagles held an 83-68 advantage in digs while NIU had a 10.0-9.0 edge in blocks.
 
The two teams wrap up their series Friday afternoon at 4 p.m.
 
--NIU--