CHICAGO – NIU volleyball received a bitter taste of Chicago, swallowing a shutout defeat to open tournament play in the Windy City.
The Huskies (1-6) sustained their most decisive loss of the season to date, falling 3-0 in the first match of the DePaul Invitational to host DePaul University (3-3) on Thursday.
Despite the shutout defeat, NIU volleyball head coach Sondra Parys believes her squad is still making positive strides.
“That was a step in the right direction for us,” Parys said. “I know as an outsider who maybe doesn’t know exactly what’s going on in our gym, you just see a result like that, but that is a completely different team in a lot of aspects.”
SIMPLY SMOTHERED
NIU’s offense was met with fierce resistance from DePaul’s front court throughout Thursday. The Huskies were held to a .130 hitting performance on a season-low 100 swings.
The match was also the first where NIU did not have a player crack double-digit kills. Junior middle blocker Charli Atiemo, senior opposite/outside hitter Emily Dykes and junior outside hitter Nikolette Nedic tied for the Huskie lead in kills with nine each.
RIDDLED WITH ERRORS
A lack of offensive discipline served as a severe detriment for the Huskies. NIU had more than double the amount of total errors than its opponents. The Huskies recorded 31 errors – 23 attack errors and eight service errors – while DePaul had 14.
A CHICAGOLAND SHOWDOWN
The first two sets saw both sides battle close before DePaul split from ties and ran to victory in each. Through Sets 1 and 2, the Blue Demons outperformed the Huskies’ in nearly every offensive statistical category.
“I’ll give credit to DePaul,” Parys said. “That’s probably one of the tougher teams we’ve seen as well. They play in the Big East. They got a lot of arms, and I think that’s just a different type of offense that we’re not used to defending.”
DePaul finished the night with a dominant third set. The Blue Demons notched 15 kills on .583 hitting to expel the Huskies from McGrath-Phillips Arena with a loss.
KEEPING IT COOL
Heading into the next matchup, Atiemo believes that NIU can find a rhythm by remaining calm and collected.
“If we go in with the confidence and staying calm, it’ll be a good game tomorrow (Friday),” Atiemo said.
NIU returns to action at 4 p.m. Friday against the University of Evansville Purple Aces. Neither Friday’s nor Saturday’s matches will be broadcasted. Live statistics will be provided by StatBroadcast.
