BOWLING GREEN, Ohio—Ava Grevengoed (Shorewood, Ill./Joliet West) led the Northern Illinois University Huskies with ten kills as the Huskies fell in action against the Falcons of Bowling Green State University. The Huskies (10-5, 3-3 MAC) posted set scores of 25-19, 11-25, 16-25, and 10-25 against the Falcons (11-7, 5-1 MAC).
 
Grevengoed recorded two of the Huskies three service aces as NIU recorded their second lowest amount of aces this season.
 
"We executed the game plan really well (in) set one and had a lot of confidence going into set two," said NIU head coach Sondra D'Amore. "Tough serves led to a passing break down early in the second set which just gave the Falcons a lot of momentum. Serve and pass is a strength of ours and we will need to execute those skills better tomorrow."
 
How It Happened
 
Emma McCartney (Cleveland, Ohio/Chardon) recorded the first two kills of the evening for the Huskies before consecutive kills from Ava Grevengoed gave the Huskies a 5-4 lead early. Grevengoed tied the game just a few points late before NIU had a 5-0 run to lead 11-6. The Huskies offense, which hit at .351 in the first set, continued to keep pressure on as they maintained a five-point advantage throughout the middle of the set. Bowling Green fought back to tie the game at 16 before Alexa Hayes (Magnolia, Texas/Magnolia West) put NIU back on top. A late ace by the Falcons brought the game within one before NIU finished on a 6-1 run.
 
Naomi Dowd (Aurora, Ill./Waubonsie Valley) had the first kill for the Huskies of set two as the Falcons started on a 7-2 run. The Huskies offense struggled to find an answer before Autumn Flynn (Luxemburg, Wis./Luxemburg-Casco) recorded a kill to end a 6-0 run by Bowling Green. A McCartney kill and Jordyn Tynsky (Denton, Texas/Denton-Guyer) service ace were the first back-to-back points by NIU in the set to make it 19-9. Flynn recorded the last kill and teamed up with Hayes for the final NIU as Bowling Green evened the match.
 
McCartney and Flynn had the first kills of the third set as the Huskies trailed 6-2 early. A Flynn kill started a 7-4 run for the Huskies as they fought to be within two of the Falcons at 11-9. Bowling Green answered the Huskies scoring run with a 9-2 run of their own as they took a nine-point lead over NIU late in the set. The teams traded points back-and-forth as Bowling Green took the third set, 25-16.
 
Hayes and Rylea Alvin (Randolph, Wis./Randolph) had the first block of the fourth set for the Huskies as the teams battled early. Bowling Green had five unanswered points before a pair of service errors on each team made it 11-5. Hayes recorded a late kill as she answered three straight points from Bowling Green. Grevengoed had the final kills of the evening as the Huskies fell 25-10.
 
The Huskies continue action in Bowling Green with the series finale on October 10. Game time is set for 5 p.m. CT with the game broadcast on ESPN+.
 
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