DeKALB, Ill. – In front of nearly 300 roaring fans at Victor E. Court, the Northern Illinois university volleyball team posted 14 team blocks, the most since the 2018 season, as NIU beat conference-leaders Bowling Green State University in four sets (25-23, 23-25, 25-22, 25-23) Friday night.

"The match was an epic battle of two teams that are representing the MAC in a good way," said NIU head coach Ray Gooden. "BGSU has just been doing such great things so far. And for us to be able to defend home tonight with a really fun crowd and good environment was just really, really good to be a part of,"

How it Happened: Down 15-14 in the opener, the Huskies (12-4,5-1 MAC) rallied for a quick 3-0 run thanks to kills from Katie Jablonski (Elburn, Ill./Kaneland) and Charli Atiemo (Milford, Mich./Farmington Hills Mercy). BGSU (9-7,4-1 MAC) reclaimed the lead after a four-point swing, but the Huskies eventually knotted the affair up at 23-23 after a Falcons' service error. Emily Dykes (Winterville, N.C./Ayden-Grifton) gave the Huskies set point while Atiemo and Jablonski stuffed BGSU at the net, ending the first frame.

Not much could be done about the Falcons hitting .405 in the second set. The Huskies didn't lay over though, NIU hit .364 and kept things close until a late surge from the Falcons eventually did them in. BGSU posted a 4-1 run to close the frame, stealing their only set-win of the night.

After the third set was tied at 10-10, NIU took off on a 6-2 run to claim a 16-12 advantage midway through the set. The Falcons clawed back though and eventually tied the match again -- this time at 19-19 -- but that motivated NIU to embark on an 8-3 run to close the set. Atiemo posted to the set-winner from Ella Mihacevich (Brunswick, Ohio/Padua Franciscan) to give the Huskies a 2-1 lead in the match.

The fourth and final set had it all: ties, multiple lead changes and all the dramatics. There was no clear leader throughout most of the set as neither team could pull away from the other; until the end. After being down 22-24, NIU went on a scoring frenzy. The squad stormed back on a 5-0 run to give themselves set point at 24-22. BGSU won the ensuing point, but Atiemo finished off the Falcons with a beautiful kill, handing the Huskies the victory.

"We knew that, in order for us to be successful against Bowling Green, we had to take advantage of opportunities. In the first set, we were able to take advantage of them and we were able to pull it off. The second set was a battle - we weren't able to have those opportunities. The third set we scored in chunks and that was positive. In the fourth set, we did a really good job of rallying back, found ourselves in a good spot and we were able to use the home court advantage to pull away with the win,"      

Notables: NIU logged 14 team blocks in the win, the most since Nov. 9, 2018 when NIU had 21 after beating Central Michigan in five sets. Atiemo led NIU with 15 kills, a season-high while Jablonski (12) and Dykes (11) also posted double-digit kills. Moreover, Dykes logged a career-high seven blocks while Lockwood (8) and Atiemo (6) were stout at the net as well. Francesca Bertucci (Chicago, Ill./De La Salle) had a match-high 26 digs while Mihacevich had a match-high 46 assists. Jablonski rounded out the night with a season-high three aces plus a double-double as she registered 13 digs to go along with her 12 kills.

Up Next: Tomorrow, NIU welcomes Miami (OH) (6-10,1-4 MAC) to Victor E. Court. First serve is set for 7 p.m.

"We have to defend home again. That's all there is to it - nothing else matters. So as cool as tonight was, tomorrow night is another opportunity to battle against a team that we'll only see once in the regular season. So, we've got to do a really good job of getting our rest in and getting ourselves reset to defend home for the weekend."

Planning on attending the Huskie football game tomorrow? Fans who present a Toledo versus NIU football ticket at the gate will be given free admittance to the Miami versus NIU volleyball match.