DeKALB – NIU volleyball (11-11, 4-9 MAC) finally broke through Friday night, ending their seven-game skid with a dramatic reverse-sweep to win 3-2 over the University at Buffalo Bulls (7-15, 4-9 MAC).
“It’s definitely a relief,” said sophomore outside hitter Emma McCartney. “We know we can win and we’ve always known, but obviously there’s some doubt, but we came together as a team and we found that we win just by playing point by point with the depth of our bench.”
SLOW START BUT STRONG FINISH
The Huskies struggled on defense early, dropping the first two sets 27-25 and 25-23, despite keeping things close. Going into the third set, they completely flipped the switch, hitting .324 as an offense behind McCartney and sophomore outside hitter Ava Grevengoed.
NIU took the third set 25-19, and didn’t let up on the gas in the fourth, winning 25-16 to take it to a decisive fifth set.
In the fifth set, the Huskies stayed composed with everything on the line and won 15-10, ending their losing streak.
“I think we just knew we didn’t want to lose again,” said freshman middle blocker Savannah Gogel. “We knew that we could beat this team, and so we just needed to put in that effort.”
MOVING ON
The Huskies have five games left in the season with the win coming at a crucial time, with time left in the season to regain some ground in the Mid-American Conference standings.
“I think we’re at a point in the season where we are going to need everybody,” head coach Sondra D’Amore said. “I think just again, reverse sweeping, finding a way to win in five after a tough stretch is the confidence we needed.”
McCartney and Grevengoed both combined for 28 kills, recording 15 and 13 respectively. McCartney also made 3 aces. Gogel added 13 kills and 2 service aces, while adding 5 blocks assists on the defensive end.
“It’s hard when you had that stretch that you had to fight through that fear of losing, and instead tackling it with wanting to win,” said D’Amore. “I saw some big shifts in how they approached it, and that’s positive as a coach.”
UP NEXT
The Huskies look to sweep the Bulls at 6 p.m. Saturday at the Convocation Center. The game will be streamed on ESPN+ and live stats will be provided on SIDEARM Sports.
