The competition from the Big Ten Conference is proving to be too much for the NIU volleyball team.

The Huskies dropped the title bout of the University of Michigan Volleyball Classic to the host team after defeating Georgia State University (15-2, 15-2, 15-5) in Friday’s opening round and Marquette University (15-13, 15-13, 17-15) Saturday afternoon.

The Wolverines ended NIU’s tourney wins (5-15, 15-12, 15-12, 15-10) which makes it the second loss in as many matches this season against Big Ten teams. The Huskies, now 11-3, lost to the University of Wisconsin-Madison just last week.

But NIU captain Becky Ramsey blames the tournament loss against UM on a lack of team cooperation.

“Nothing clicked, nothing worked,” Ramsey said. “People kept trying at different times, so we never had a time when the team worked hard together.”

In fact, the team struggled all weekend even through its wins, according to Ramsey.

“The teams weren’t really a challenge, but even though we won we didn’t play very well,” Ramsey said. “It didn’t feel like good wins.”

But two NIU players still played well enough to earn all-tournament honors. Junior hitter Wendy Mason and freshman setter Shelby Snyder were both selected as members of the All-Tournament team.

In the sweep against GSU, Mason went 6-for-12 in kills and led all digs with 8. Amy Foulke delivered as many kills but only had 9 attempts and 2 blocks.

The Huskies’ offense livened up against Marquette with four players delivering 8 or more kills. Ramsey led the charts with 11 kills in 21 attempts for a .429 average. Kozak followed with 9 kills while Mason and Foulke delivered 8 kills apiece.

NIU’s four games against UM boosted the numbers for Kozak (16 kills), Mason (15 kills), and Foulke (15 kills) but could not stack up against the Wolverines who were backed by tournament MVP Michelle Horrigan, who pounded 23 kills of her own.

“Hopefully losing against Michigan will help us improve,” Mason said. “We found out we have a lot we need to work on.”