KENT, OH – The Northern Illinois University volleyball team rallied from 2-1 down Friday afternoon against the Kent State Golden Flashes to win 3-2 (23-25, 25-18, 21-25, 25-22, 15-13) in the series opener between the two teams at the M.A.C. Center.
Katie Jablonski (Elburn, Ill./New Hampshire) led the Huskies with 16 kills and added eight digs.
Kennedy Wallace (Kansas City, Kan./Piper) hit .524 with 14 kills, three blocks and two aces.
JoDee Kovanda (Lockport, Ill./West Florida) had 13 kills and tied a season-high with seven blocks.
Jasmine Kemp (DeKalb, Ill./DeKalb) also had seven blocks.
"We got so many contributions from many different people," said head coach
Ray Gooden. "We were doing some pretty good things throughout the match against a really good team. What tonight shows is that you can play good team volleyball and not rely on someone's individual numbers to get the win. We needed a full team effort and got it tonight."
NIU (8-10, 8-10 MAC) bounced back from falling behind 2-1 in the match by going on a 4-0 run on kills from Jablonski, Kovanda, and
Grace Balensiefer (Lafayette, Ind./McCutcheon) to take a 6-4 lead in the fourth set. Kent State got within one at 8-7 but a
Kaitlyn Bell (De Soto, Kan./De Soto) kill started a 7-1 Huskies run that put NIU ahead 15-8. Back-to-back kills from Savannah Matthews sparked a 6-1 Kent State run that got the Golden Flashes within two, 17-15. Kent State got as close as one at 20-19 when NIU won three of the next four points to take a 23-20 lead. The two teams traded points the rest of the way as the Huskies won the fourth 25-22 to force a fifth set.
The Huskies took a 3-1 lead in the deciding set on kills from Wallace and Jablonski and a
Kelsy Turskey (Prairie Grove, Ill./Prairie Grove) service ace. NIU doubled its lead with a 4-1 run that included a block and a
Samantha Juarez (Batavia, Ill./Batavia) ace that put NIU ahead 8-4 and forced a Kent State timeout. The Golden Flashes responded with the next three points as a Lana Strejcek solo block made the score 8-7. The two teams traded points up to 12-10 when kills from Matthews and Melissa Kolurbasi tied the set at 12. Kemp broke the tie with a kill and Kovanda earned NIU match point with a kill at 14-12. Kent State fought off one match point but Kovanda put the match away with her 13
th kill of the day, giving NIU the set 15-13 and the match 3-2.
Kent State (11-6, 11-6 MAC) got out to a fast start in the match, winning six of the first eight points in the opening set. The Huskies closed within two at 8-6 on a Wallace ace. The Golden Flashes, however, went on a 7-1 run to take a 15-7 lead. Kent State earned set point at 24-17, but the Huskies had one last run in them. NIU fought off six set points to get within one, 24-23. Danie Tyson locked up the opening set with a kill for Kent State as the Golden Flashes took it 25-23.
NIU took a 6-3 lead to start the second set on a block from Kemp and Balensiefer. The advantage grew to six when a 5-1 Huskies run, capped by a Juarez ace, put the score at 12-6. Kent State got as close as four when a Bell kill ignited another 5-1 run for NIU that put the Huskies ahead 18-10. NIU hit .393 in the set and won it 25-18 on another Juarez ace that punctuated a 5-0 Huskies run.
The Huskies hit .252 for the match, holding Kent State to a .221 hitting percentage. NIU had 11 aces on the day to the Golden Flashes' four. Kent State held a 69-63 edge in digs but the Huskies had an 11.0-9.5 advantage in blocks.
The two teams wrap up their weekend series Saturday at 2 p.m.
--NIU--
