BUFFALO, N.Y. – The Northern Illinois University volleyball team bounced back from dropping the first set to the Buffalo Bulls Friday night by taking the next three sets in a 3-1 win (23-25, 25-22, 25-19, 25-20) at Alumni Arena.
"We got to a good start tonight but for us it's still about playing all the way through the set," said head coach
Ray Gooden. "We took the lessons from that first set and applied that to the next three. The biggest thing is just continuing to battle. We can't play the score or the other team's record. We've got to play the play and do our best in each moment. We had some good stretches of that later in the match where we were finding those positives."
Senior middle blocker
Kennedy Wallace (Kansas City, Kan./Piper) led all players in the match with 14 kills, hitting .480 with five blocks.
JoDee Kovanda (Lockport, Ill./West Florida) had 11 kills and four blocks, hitting .296.
Grace Balensiefer (Lafayette, Ind./McCutcheon) had a double-double with 40 assists and 12 digs.
Samantha Juarez (Batavia, Ill./Batavia) led the Huskies with 20 digs.
NIU (7-8) broke a 7-7 tie in set one with a 3-0 run sparked by a
Katie Jablonski (Elburn, Ill./New Hampshire) kill to go up 10-7. Buffalo closed within two at 12-10 on a Lexi Nordmann kill. A
Jasmine Kemp (DeKalb, Ill./DeKalb) kill started a 6-1 Huskies run that put NIU ahead 18-11. Wallace and Balensiefer combined for two blocks in that stretch. NIU led 22-16 when an Emma Gielas kill started a 9-1 Bulls run that won the set for Buffalo 25-23 on a Milla Malik kill.
After hitting just .139 in the opening set, the Huskies' offense came alive in the second. Powered by kills from Jablonski, Wallace, Kemp and Kovanda, NIU got out to a 10-6 lead. Buffalo chipped away at the Huskies' lead and got within two at 15-13 on kills from Malik and Courtney Okwara. The Huskies got the lead back up to four at 20-16 on kills from Jablonski and Kemp. Buffalo came back with a 5-0 run capped by a Nordmann kill to take the lead at 21-20. NIU responded with a 4-0 run highlighted by a Juarez ace to earn set point at 24-21. The Bulls fought off one set point, but Wallace put away the set with her sixth kill of the match. NIU won the set 25-21, hitting .393 to tie the match 1-1.
Buffalo (1-14) got off to a fast start in the third, taking a 6-2 lead behind three Malik kills. The Bulls grew their lead to five at 12-7 on a Kyndal Bacon kill. NIU then won the next four points with a Wallace kill getting the Huskies within one, 12-11. The Huskies tied the set at 14 on another Wallace kill and the two teams traded points up to 17-17. Kovanda broke the tie with a kill, with an NIU block and Buffalo error giving the Huskies a 20-17 lead. Buffalo got as close as two at 20-18, but NIU closed the set on a 5-1 run with a block by Wallace and
Kaitlyn Bell (De Soto, Kan./De Soto) to win it 25-19 and take a 2-1 lead in the match.
It was the Huskies that took a 6-2 lead in the fourth set, getting two kills from Kovanda. Buffalo rallied back to tie the set at nine on a Nordmann kill. A block from Kemp and Jablonski started a 5-0 NIU run that put the Huskies ahead 14-9. The Bulls closed within two at 19-17 on a Monika Simkova kill. NIU got the lead back up to four at 23-19 on a block by Kovanda and Kemp, leading to a Buffalo timeout. The Huskies locked up the set, and the match, with their third block of the set by Bell and Kemp to win it 25-20 and the match 3-1.
NIU hit .242 for the match and held Buffalo to a .194 hitting percentage. The Huskies also held a 70-64 advantage in digs and a 12.0-5.0 edge in blocks. Kemp led the match with seven blocks. Malik led Buffalo with 13 kills.
The two teams conclude their weekend series Saturday at 12 p.m.
--NIU--
