Although there were some anxious moments for coach Pete Waite, in the end the NIU women’s volleyball team put the broom to Valparaiso University Tuesday.

The “broom”: as in clean sweep, as in three straight games, as in 15-12, 15-5, 15-12. The third straight road victory, which helped boost the Huskies overall ledger to 17-6, kept the North Star Conference slate clean at 2-0.

“A three-game win looks fairly easy, but Valparaiso’s improved a ton from last year. They had us on the ropes a few times, but each time we were able to come back, steady ourselves, and get the victory,” Waite noted. “We got contributions from a lot of people and every road win is always welcome.”

In the first game, NIU found itself trailing early by a 4-0 count, but stormed back for an 8-4 advantage. Both teams battled evenly until the 10-point plateau when the Huskies took control.

“The second game was a much better effort defensively and offensively. We won that easy by controlling play,” Waite added.

In game three, Valparaiso took an imposing 9-3 advantage only to have the Huskies rally for an 11-all tie. From there NIU moved ahead and on to a 15-12 triumph and match victory that left Valparaiso with an 11-11 overall record and 0-2 NSC reading.

Individually, Waite pointed to the offensive efforts of Kari Niesen and Kori Schauer. The former had 19 kills against seven errors while the latter nailed 10 kills minus four errors in 28 attempts for a .214 average.