The NIU women’s volleyball squad chalked up another “brooming” Tuesday as NIU swept the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee in three drawn out games: 15-13, 16-14, 15-11.

The triumph treated NIU to a 21-7 season ledger with 16 of the victories being “broom” performances. Despite the non-conference win, NIU boss Pete Waite was relieved to simply escape Wisconsin without a loss.

“Quite honestly, we played well enough to win. We really played in spurts. It wasn’t a total effort. Wisconsin-Milwaukee is a big team and they block well, so we had our share of problems at times,” Waite explained.

For example, NIU’s early 10-3 lead in game one became a 13-all tie before the Huskies claimed the last two necessary points. In the second game, NIU trailed by a 14-10 count before breaking UWM’s spell with six straight points.

“We just weren’t hitting the ball into the court. We were trying to adjust to their block too much. Once we got down 10-14, we played some real agressive volleyball and ran off six straight. We had our backs to the wall and decided to really play,” Waite said. “In the third game, we were ahead the whole time and played a better overall game.”

The Huskies’ triumph was accomplished without the services of three key players—Julie Kreiling-Zinke, Kori Schauer and Michelle Detry. All three are sidelined with injuries. To that extent, NIU relied on its season-long formula of a balanced attack utilizing everyone.

“With the players we have available we need to have everyone contribute, every time out. That was the case again tonight,” Waite said.

Kari Niesen led NIU in terms of total kills with 17 while the top hitting percentages belonged to Becky Ramsey and Amy Foulke. The former batted .222 (13 kills minus seven errors in 27 attempts) and posted a team-best 13 digs while the latter hit .211. In addition to quarterbacking the offense, setter Shauna Campbell was second in digs with 12.

The Huskies return to DeKalb for yet another non-conference outing as they welcome Chicago State University for a 7 p.m. Chick Evans Field House meeting Friday.