CHARLESTON, IL – The Northern Illinois University volleyball team went on the road for the first time in the 2021 season Thursday night to take on the Eastern Illinois Panthers at Lantz Arena. The Panthers held NIU to a .148 hitting percentage in a 3-1 (25-23, 19-25, 25-15, 25-15) win.
 
Junior outside hitter Kaitlyn Bell (De Soto, Kan./De Soto) led the Huskies with nine kills, hitting .333 for the match. Angie Gromos (West Chicago, Ill./West Chicago) tied a career-high with seven blocks and added eight kills. Senior setter Grace Balensiefer (Lafayette, Ind./McCutcheon) had a double-double with 31 assists and 10 digs. Francesca Bertucci (Chicago, Ill./De La Salle) led NIU with 19 digs.
 
"Credit to Eastern for defending their home court," said head coach Ray Gooden following Thursday night's match. "It's a good lesson for us to understand what it's like to play on the road again. It also helps us playing the same opponent back to back in conference going forward. We need to do a better job of the things we can control. That comes from the service line and in serve receive where we've been able to find positives up to this point."
 
NIU (2-2) fell behind 9-4 early in the opening set but battled back to get within one point at 10-9 on a Gromos kill. The Huskies took their first lead at 13-12 when an Ella Mihacevich (Brunswick, Ohio/Padua Franciscan) kill capped a 4-0 NIU run. Eastern Illinois came back to take a 19-16 lead which prompted an NIU timeout. The Huskies trailed 21-19 when a pair of Gromos blocks leveled the set at 21. The two teams traded the next four points before kills from Eastern Illinois' Danielle Allen and Emily Wilcox gave the Panthers the opening set 25-23.
 
The Huskies got out to a fast start in set two. NIU won the first six points, bookended by kills from Katie Jablonski (Elburn, Ill./New Hampshire). Eastern Illinois cut the lead to two at 9-7, but back-to-back kills from Jablonski and Bell put NIU back up by four 11-7. The Huskies were up 16-13 when a Mihacevich kill sparked a 4-0 run that gave NIU a seven-point advantage 20-13. The Panthers got as close as four points late but the Huskies won the set 25-19 on a Gromos kill and Bertucci ace to tie the match 1-1.
 
Eastern Illinois (4-0) hit .425 in the third set to take it 25-15 and go up 2-1 in the match. The Panthers took a 7-3 lead early in the fourth, only to see the Huskies rally back to take an 11-10 lead on back-to-back blocks from Gromos and Nikolette Nedic (Willowbrook, Ill./Hinsdale Central). Eastern Illinois answered with four straight points to take back the lead at 14-11. A Bell kill got NIU back within two at 14-12 but that would be as close as the Huskies would get. Eastern Illinois won 11 of the last 14 points to win the set 25-15 and the match 3-1.
The Panthers hit .170 for the match and held a 63-55 edge in digs. NIU had the advantage at the net with eight blocks to Eastern Illinois' six. Allen led all players with 15 kills.
 
The two teams play the second match of this week's home-and-home series at Victor E. Court Saturday night at 6 p.m.
 
--NIU--