DAYTON, Ohio— Ava Grevengoed (Shorewood, Ill./Joliet West) led the Huskies with 11 kills as the Northern Illinois University volleyball team (6-5, 0-1 Horizon) dropped their conference opener to the Raiders of Wright State University (6-5, 1-0 Horizon). NIU posted set scores of 21-25, 19-25, 15-25.
Kylie Schulze (Wonder Lake, Ill./Woodstock North) recorded her eighth career double-double with 14 assists and 12 digs.
"Wright State is a good, physical, and powerful team, and we knew they would challenge us today," said
Sondra D'Amore, NIU head coach. "I thought we competed to start but defensively struggled to make adjustments and need to be better there….If we can put more pressure on them on both sides of the game, we will give ourselves an opportunity to win. Wright State has a lot of weapons and they're going to challenge there so we need to do a better job of slowing them down and being ready to counter."
Katie Pahl (Perrysburg, Ohio/Perrysburg) recorded the first kill of the night for the Huskies as Wright State took control of the opening set early. The Raiders built a four-point lead before
Naomi Dowd (Aurora, Ill./Waubonsie Valley) sparked an NIU run that brought the Huskies within one at 8-7. Wright State continued to control the set, as three points would be the closest NIU would get for the remainder of the frame. A
Delaney Steers (Brownsburg, Ind./Brownsburg) kill sparked a 3-0 run before Wright State handed NIU its first set loss since Sept. 11.
Pahl got the action started in the second set for the Huskies as the teams traded points early. A Steers kill paved the way for an ace as NIU built a three-point lead at 8-5. After the Raiders pulled within one, consecutive kills from
Rylea Alvin (Randolph, Wis./Randolph) and Grevengoed restored the Huskies' three-point lead. Wright State went on a 6-3 run to tie the set at 13 before a run of unanswered points gave the Raiders a 16-13 lead. Pahl recorded a late kill for the Huskies at 21-16, while Grevengoed recorded the final two kills as NIU dropped the second set, 25-19.
Wright State jumped out to a 5-0 lead in the third set before a service error gave NIU its first point. Grevengoed notched a pair of kills to bring NIU within two at 7-5. Steers and Alvin recorded kills as Wright State went on a 6-2 run through the middle of the set.
Autumn Flynn (Luxemburg, Wis./Luxemburg-Casco) recorded back-to-back kills before Alvin recorded the final kill of the night as NIU dropped the third set, 25-15.
The Huskies return action on Sept. 26 as they take on Wright State. First serve is set for 1 p.m.
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