NORTH CHARLESTON, S.C. – The Northern Illinois University volleyball team went 2-0 Friday at the Buccaneer Invitational, hosted by Charleston Southern at CSU Field House. The Huskies swept Bethune-Cookman 3-0 (25-10, 25-14, 25-21) in the morning before a 3-1 (25-15, 26-28, 25-20, 25-21) win over The Citadel Friday evening.
"We played two good matches today," said head coach
Ray Gooden. "We did a nice job getting a lot of people some match experience in the first match against Bethune-Cookman. The second match against The Citadel was a battle and we needed a match like that. The Citadel did a good job of battling for each point, and for us to battle right back with them and come back the way we did was good for our group."
NIU's (5-2) offense got out of the gates real quick in the morning sweep of Bethune-Cookman. The Huskies hit .433 to take the opening set against the Wildcats 25-10. NIU scored the last 11 points of the set to win it with
Ella Mihacevich (Brunswick, Ohio/Padua Franciscan) and
Katie Jablonski (Elburn, Ill./New Hampshire) combining for six kills in that run. In the second set, NIU hit .440 in a 25-14 win go up 2-0 in the match.
Kaitlyn Bell (De Soto, Kan./De Soto) put down a kill to break a 7-7 tie which sparked a 7-1 run that put the Huskies up 14-8. NIU took its largest lead of the set at 23-13 when another Bell kill capped a four-point Huskies run.
Bethune-Cookman (0-6) took a 9-6 lead to start the third set and lead 14-12 midway through. Behind two kills from Mihacevich and a
Grace Balensiefer (Lafayette, Ind./McCutcheon) service ace, NIU went on a 4-0 run to take its first lead of the set at 20-16. The Wildcats got as close as two, but two kills from
Jasmine Kemp (DeKalb, Ill./DeKalb) sealed the set 25-21 and the match 3-0.
Mihacevich led all players with 10 kills and hit .350 for the match. Kemp and Jablonski both had seven kills. Balensiefer dished out 35 assists while
Miranda Karlen (Evansville, Wis./Evansville) led the match with 12 digs. NIU hit .371 for the match, it's highest hitting percentage in a three-match win since 2016 against Ball State. The Huskies also held the Wildcats to a .052 hitting mark.
NIU picked up where it left off against Bethune-Cookman to start the nightcap against The Citadel. The Huskies hit .312 in the opening set and held the Bulldogs to .051 in a 25-15 win. NIU used a 6-1 run, capped by a
Nikolette Nedic (Willowbrook, Ill./Hinsdale Central) kill, to go up 13-7. The Huskies used a 7-1 run to finish off the first set, getting two Kemp kills and a
Charli Atiemo (Milford, Mich./Farmington Hills Mercy) ace to go up 1-0 in the match.
The Citadel (1-1) broke an 8-8 tie in the second set with a 9-4 run to take a 17-12 lead. Down 21-16, the Huskies won six of the next seven points to tie the set at 22. NIU fought off three set points late, but The Citadel took the set 28-26 to tie the match at one set all. In the third set, NIU rallied from an early 11-6 deficit by scoring nine unanswered points to take a 15-11 lead. Mihacevich punctuated the run with a pair of kills as Balensiefer added two aces. The Citadel got within two at 20-18 but the Huskies were able to take the set 25-20 on Kemp's 17
th kill of the match and take a 2-1 lead.
The Bulldogs took the early momentum in the fourth, winning the first six points. The Citadel extended its lead to eight at 14-6 before an NIU timeout. The Huskies came out from the break and won 11 of the next 13 points to take a 17-16 lead. Jablonski had three kills in that stretch to get NIU back in the set. NIU grew the lead to four at 22-18 on a Jablonski ace and earned match point at 24-19 on a Balensiefer kill. NIU took the set 25-21 on a Kemp kill to win the match 3-1.
"We've talked a lot about having positive streaks this weekend," Gooden said. "We did a good job of playing in the moment and not getting down, and continuing to fight throughout the entire play, the entire set, and the entire match. Our tenacity on defense has improved and it showed in both matches today."
Kemp led NIU with a career-high 18 kills against The Citadel, hitting .469 with three blocks. Jablonski had a double-double with 14 kills and 12 digs. Balensiefer also had a double-double with 47 assists and 11 digs. Five Huskies had double-figure digs in the second match, led by freshman libero
Francesca Bertucci's (Chicago, Ill./De La Salle) season-high 28. NIU hit .244 in the match to The Citadel's .179.
NIU closes out the Buccaneer Invitational on Saturday morning at 9 a.m. against the hosts Charleston Southern.
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