The volleyball team returned to Victor E. Court after its five-game road trip with its second home loss of the season to the Bowling Green State University Falcons (26-28, 20-25, 17-25) Saturday.

The Huskies (10-19, 8-6 Mid-American Conference) fell to third place in the MAC West standings and sixth place in the MAC standings after their loss and have two matches left for the remainder of the season. NIU has been swept in four of six conference losses.

“We had a really good start; we were being aggressive, and we were all just playing our game,” sophomore outside hitter Jori Radtke said. “We played it too safe at the end. If we kept playing our game like we played at the beginning, it would’ve been a very difference outcome.”

NIU scored the first point of the match with a Radtke service ace. The teams exchanged points until a Bowling Green kill brought the set to a 6-6 tie. The Huskies went on a 6-0 run spearheaded by four Radtke kills to take a 12-6 advantage.

Radtke had seven kills in the first set and a team-high 15 kills the entire match to go along with nine digs and a pair of blocks.

The Falcons scored a point before a junior middle blocker Brinley Milbrath kill jumpstarted an NIU 4-0 run to give the Huskies a nine point advantage. NIU pushed its lead to 21-11 after a Milbrath kill, but three consecutive Huskie attack errors aided the Falcons in scoring four successive points to bring their deficit down to 21-15.

NIU scored three of the next four points to take a 24-16 advantage. Bowling Green retaliated by notching six consecutive points to bring its deficit down to 24-22.

It looked like the Huskies won the first set when a Falcons attack attempt was called out of play, but a Bowling Green challenge reversed the call on the court and brought the set to a 24-23 NIU lead.

The Falcons tallied two more kills to take a 25-24 advantage. Bowling Green thought they won the set after Radtke’s attack attempt was ruled out, but Head Coach Ray Gooden challenged the play and the call was overturned to bring the set to a tie at 25.

The teams exchanged points before the Falcons knocked down two set-deciding kills and won 28-26.

“We just had to finish it,” Gooden said. “Credit to Bowling Green for not quitting. We just can’t play the score. As a young group, we have to play in the moment and unfortunately we went from confident to nervy.”

Bowling Green used five kills to take an early 6-4 lead in the second set. The teams traded off points until the Huskies used a 3-1 run to tie the set at 10.

The Falcons regained a 14-12 advantage, but Radtke and sophomore middle blocker Kennedy Wallace kills helped NIU score three successive points to give the Huskies a 15-14 lead.

Bowling Green tallied nine of the ensuing 12 points to go up 23-18. NIU did not bring its deficit within four for the remainder of the set and lost 25-20.

The Falcons used a 3-0 run to take a 6-3 lead to start the third set. The Huskies reduced their deficit to 9-8 after Radtke and senior outside hitter Autumn Martin recorded kills. Martin finished the match with five kills and two digs after tallying a season-high in kills against the Western Michigan University Broncos Wednesday.

“Autumn has done a good job,” Gooden said. “She’s helped us, and that’s been positive. We need people to help us no matter where they are. No matter if they’re a starter, a role player or a specialist, we need people to help us no matter where they are.”

Bowling Green notched three successive points to take a 12-8 advantage. NIU reduced its deficit to 14-12 after a Radtke kill, but the Falcons responded with a 7-1 run to take a 21-13 lead. The Huskies lost the set 25-17 and were swept in the match.

Senior middle blocker Meg Wolowicz was honored with a commemorative volleyball before the match for her 1,000th career kill, which came against the Buffalo Bulls Oct. 13.

She finished the match against Bowling Green with four kills and nine digs. Wolowicz currently has 1,095 career kills.

The volleyball team’s match was a part of Diabetes Awareness Night. Representatives from the Juvenile Diabetes Research were at the Convocation Center to help inform attendees about the disease.

Sophomore libero Miranda Karlen was diagnosed with Type 1 Diabetes on Nov. 1, 2016. She emailed the coaching staff over the summer about hosting this event and said she was happy with how the event turned out despite the loss.

“Diabetes affects more people than you realize,” Karlen said. “It was really cool to see people coming up and asking questions. It’s cool to see they can see this is something they can still do. Diabetes isn’t the end all be all, and they can still do whatever they want to do.”

NIU will conclude its regular season with home matches against the Central Michigan University Chippewas and the Eastern Michigan University Eagles. The Huskies’ match-up versus the Chippewas will be at 7 p.m. Friday at Victor E. Court. NIU will face-off against the Eagles 7 p.m. Saturday.