The volleyball team split its Homecoming weekend games when it defeated the University of Akron Zips (25-22, 25-23, 25-23) Friday and fell to the University at Buffalo Bulls (25-19, 13-25, 25-21, 12-25, 15-17) Saturday for its first loss at Victor E. Court.

The Huskies (7-16, 5-3 Mid-American Conference) are in third place in MAC West Division after completing half of their MAC contests.

“The weekend as a whole, I thought there were moments when we were doing some good things,” Head Coach Ray Gooden said. “Last night’s match was tough, but I thought we did a good job winning the important points. Tonight was hard because the momentum kept going up and down. We still had chances to pull out the win but came up short.”

Friday: Akron

The Zips took an early 4-2 lead after a senior middle blocker Meg Wolowicz attack error. The Huskies scored two consecutive points to bring the score to 4-4. The teams exchanged points until 22-22.

NIU gained a one-point advantage after an Akron service error. A Zips’ attack error gave the Huskies a two-point lead before sophomore outside hitter Jori Radtke knocked down the set-deciding kill with an assist from first year setter Grace Balensiefer to give NIU a 1-0 match lead.

Akron had a 6-4 advantage early in the second set before the Huskies went on a 4-0 run to take an 8-6 lead. The Zips tied the set at eight after they scored two successive points. There were seven ties in the set as the teams traded points up to 23-23 after an Akron service ace.

Radtke tallied a kill to put the Huskies up 24-23 before a Zips’ attack error gave NIU a 25-23 set win. NIU hit .343 in the first two sets. Radtke finished the match with a game-high 17 kills and 11 digs for her 11th double-double of the season. Wolowicz also recorded 17 kills and hit .324 for the match.

“It starts with our passing,” Gooden said about the team’s offense. “Then, it goes to our setting and if we’re in system, or even when we’re not, [Radtke] and [Wolowicz] do a good job of putting the ball where it needs to go.”

The Huskies took an 11-6 lead after going on a 5-0 run, sparked by a redshirt senior middle blocker Chrystal McAplin kill. The Zips reduced their deficit to 13-11 after scoring four consecutive points. NIU notched three of the next four points to gain a four-point advantage before Akron rattled off three successive points to bring the Huskies’ lead down to 16-15.

The teams exchanged points to a 21-21 tie. NIU tallied three consecutive points to gain a 24-21 advantage. The Zips retaliated with two points, but an Akron service error gave the Huskies a 25-23 set win and the match sweep.

NIU hit .278 for the match to go along with nine blocks. Balensiefer recorded a team-high 25 assists while sophomore setter Amanda Krahl added 12 helpers of her own. Sophomore outside hitter Amanda Rullan Vilanova and sophomore middle blocker Kennedy Wallace both notched a match-high five blocks.

“I thought our team did a really nice job staying stable against a really solid Akron team that’s playing some really good volleyball,” Gooden said. “We were able to pull the right points at the right times.”

Saturday: Buffalo

Wolowicz became the 23rd player in Huskie volleyball history to notch 1,000 career kills in NIU’s loss against the Bulls. Wolowicz tallied a team-high 18 kills in the match versus Buffalo and finished the weekend with 1,011 kills.

“It’s a really cool accomplishment,” Wolowicz said. “I couldn’t have done anything without the teammates who set to me, or the people to pass it. This reflects more on the program than it does me.”

Buffalo jumped out to an 8-3 lead to start the match. NIU responded by scoring three of the ensuing four points, but the Bulls retailed with a 3-0 run to go up 12-6 and force the Huskies to a call a timeout.

NIU scored six of the next eight points after the break to reduce its deficit to 14-12. Buffalo scored the next two points before the Huskies scored five consecutive points to take a one-point lead.

The teams exchanged points before NIU went on another 5-0 run that led to the Huskies scoring the set-deciding point and winning the opening set 25-19. NIU held the Bulls to a -.053 hitting percentage in the first set.

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Buffalo dominated the next set with offensive improvements. The Bulls hit .586 and tallied 17 kills and no errors in the second set. The Huskies did not have a lead in the second set and allowed Buffalo to go on an 11-2 run to close out the set and tie the match 1-1.

After a Bulls’ attack error, Wolowicz knocked down her No. 1,000 career kill to give the Huskies a 2-0 lead with Krahl recording the assist on the milestone.

“It was really awesome to help [Wolowicz] achieve that,” Krahl said. “She’s a great teammate and a great player.”

The teams traded off points until the Bulls scored four successive points to go up 9-6. The Huskies and Bulls exchanged points again before NIU notched a 3-0 run to tie the game at 12. The Huskies gained a 22-21 advantage after another back-and-forth with Buffalo and closed the third set out with three consecutive points to win the second set 25-21.

The Huskies went up 4-2, early in the fourth set after three Bulls errors. Buffalo dominated the remainder of the set as it scored 17 of the ensuing 19 points to take a 19-6 advantage and put the game out of the Huskies’ grasp. The Bulls held NIU to a .000 hitting percentage and won the fourth set 25-12 to force a fifth set.

Gooden said he was disappointed by the Huskies’ inconsistent play.

“That’s actually the disappointing part,” Gooden said. “When we were up, we were doing some nice things. But when we were down, it was pretty bad. I think we have to do a better job of knowing how to manage the load a little bit more so we can be more consistent when we play.”

The Huskies took a 3-1 advantage after a pair of Wolowicz kills and a Wallace kill. Their lead grew to 6-3 after another Wolowicz kill and a pair of Radtke kills. Buffalo sophomore outside hitter Andrea Mitrovic, who leads the MAC in kills per set, knocked down back-to-back kills to reduce the Bulls’ deficit to one.

NIU sandwiched a Buffalo kill in between Radtke and Wallace kills to give itself a two-point advantage. The Bulls scored five consecutive points to take an 11-8 lead. The Huskies rallied back by scoring six of the ensuing eight points to take a 14-13 lead.

NIU did not capitalize off its momentum. Buffalo scored four of the next five points and lost the match-deciding fifth set 17-15 for the Huskies’ first loss at Victor E. Court.

The Huskies begin a five-game road trip when they face the Kent State University Golden Flashes 5 p.m. Friday in Kent, Ohio, and the Ohio University Bobcats 5 p.m. Saturday in Athens, Ohio.

“We still need to be stable and consistent for the duration of sets,” Gooden said. “I thought we did that last night, but we need to do it on back-to-back nights. We’ll have to do it for three straight nights if we qualify for the MAC Tournament. We still have to learn how to do that for as long as we can.”