DeKALB, Ill. – The Northern Illinois University volleyball team (6-3,0-0 MAC) overcame an opening-set loss (23-25) to win their primetime matchup with the Rhode Island Rams (4-8,0-0 A10) Friday night at Victor E. Court. The Huskies won the final three sets (25-21, 25-11, 25-20) and extended their win streak to three-straight after a trio of Huskies reached double-digit kills.

"I felt the energy from our fans tonight was awesome. It was great to be back home - we've been on the road for a while. And sometimes, learning how to be back in your own environment is a challenge," said head volleyball coach Ray Gooden. Rhode Island was going to play good, hard volleyball tonight and I thought both teams were defensively intense,"

How it Happened: Despite winning the first three points of the match, the Huskies fell subject to a 7-2 Rams' run which put them behind 7-5 in the first set. NIU eventually tied the set at 11-11 after a kill from Charli Atiemo (Milford, Mich./Farmington Hills Mercy) and a URI attacking error, but Rhode Island followed with another 6-1 run, regaining the lead. Sammi Lockwood (Cary, Ill./Prairie Ridge) made the score 23-24 in favor of the Rams after her kill from Ella Mihacevich (Brunswick, Ohio/Padua Franciscan), but URI ended the set on the ensuing point with a kill of their own.

NIU flipped the switch in the second set with a .310 hitting percentage and 12 kills. An 8-2 run plus four aces gave the Huskies a 21-19 buffer before things started to get tight near the end of the set. The Rams made things interesting after logging a kill and capitalizing off an NIU service error. However, the Huskies stayed strong and didn't back down. Katie Jablonski (Elburn, Ill./Kaneland) hammered down the set-winner from Mihacevich to knot the match up at 1-1.

NIU went up 6-2 early in the third set behind two kills from Emily Dykes (Winterville, N.C./Ayden-Grifton) and a trio of Rams' attacking errors. Then, a 9-0 run from NIU put them up 21-9 and out of reach of URI. One kill from Kaitlyn Bell (De Soto, Kan./De Soto) and a pair from Jablonski capped the team's .423 hitting percentage, the best of their night.

Rhode Island gave it everything they had to steal the fourth set from NIU, but steady defense and some savvy attacks from the Huskies kept the match from going to five sets. After NIU held a 19-14 lead, Rhode Island came back with a 4-0 run to make the score 18-19 in favor of NIU. The Huskies regrouped and Jablonski's huge kill from Mihacevich put an end to the comeback. NIU ended the set on a 6-2 run to win the match.

"We came up short in the first set, battled back for the next three. Everyone, from player number two to 21, had really good impacts,"

Notables: The Huskies held URI to a -0.059 hitting percentage in the third set. Jablonski, Atiemo and Lockwood reached double-digit kills while Francesca Bertucci (Chicago, Ill./De La Salle) logged 36 digs, a season high. Atiemo and Mihacevich had season highs as well with 15 and 10.5 points, respectively. Mihacevich rounded out her night with yet another double-double – the setter garnered 16 digs and 35 assists.

Up Next: The Huskies conclude the tri-match with an 11 a.m. date with Southern Indiana tomorrow at Victor E. Court. Planning on going to the NIU versus Vanderbilt football game this weekend? Fans who present a Vanderbilt ticket at the gate will be given free admittance to the USI match.

"[Southern Indiana] had a gritty five-setter earlier today against Rhode Island. Their defenses is pretty intense. They try and force you to make plays, so it'll be really important for us to do a good job of managing our side. The more consistently we play as Huskies, the better we can be. We want to try to end our non-conference on a really good note given full respect to southern Indiana."