The volleyball team bounced back from a loss to the Ball State University Cardinals (20-25, 13-25, 18-25) Friday by defeating the University of Toledo Rockets (25-20, 23-25, 25-16, 25-15) Saturday to remain above .500 in Mid-American Conference play.

The Huskies (9-18, 7-5 MAC) are in second place in the MAC West Division after their victory over the Rockets. They’ve matched their conference win total from the 2017 season with four matches left to play for the remainder of the regular season.

NIU’s two games back of first place in the division.

Friday: Ball State

Ball State opened the match with a 4-1 advantage. The Huskies battled back and tied the set at 10 after a sophomore libero Miranda Karlen service ace. The two teams traded off points and 3-0 runs to re-tie the set at 15 following a senior middle blocker Meg Wolowicz kill.

The Cardinals used a 6-1 run to gain a 21-16 over NIU. The Huskies played Ball State even for the remainder of the set and lost 25-20.

The Cardinals opened the second set with a 4-0 lead before NIU used junior middle blocker Brinley Milbrath, sophomore middle blocker Kennedy Wallace and Wolowicz kills to bring its deficit down to 7-9.

Ball State pulled away by scoring 12 successive points to take a 21-7 advantage. The Huskies used a 5-1 run spearheaded by Wolowicz, sophomore outside hitter Jori Radtke and sophomore outside hitter Amanda Vilanova Rullan kills to bring their deficit down to 22-12.

The Cardinals won three of the final four points of the set and took a 25-13 victory.

“Sometimes our youth shows itself where we become so dependent on the individual play versus still working together as a group,” Head Coach Ray Gooden said. “That comes with confidence and experience. Ball State also had blood in the water and everything they did was right.”

Ball State used a 3-0 run to take a 5-2 lead in the third set. NIU responded with back-to-back points, but the Cardinals retaliated by tallying five of the ensuing six points to take a 10-5 advantage.

The Huskies went on a 6-1 run to tie the game at 11 before the teams exchanged points and tied the game again at 16. Ball State scored nine of the final 11 points of the set, including seven successive points, to win the final set 25-18 and sweep NIU in the match.

Saturday: Toledo

The Huskies got back into the win column with a victory over the Rockets. Wolowicz recorded a double-double with a game-high 16 kills and 10 digs. Milbrath tallied nine kills while hitting .381. Redshirt senior middle blocker Chrystal McAlpin contributed seven kills in addition to a match-high six blocks.

NIU took a 5-2 lead to open the match before Toledo tied the match at five after scoring three consecutive points. The Huskies regained their lead by going on an 8-2 run to take a 13-7 advantage.

The Rockets brought their deficit down four before NIU tallied four successive points to take a 18-10 lead. Toledo brought its deficit down to three when the score was 22-19, but the Huskies scored three of the final four points of the set to win 25-20.

The Rockets won the second set to tie the match 1-1. Toledo had a 17-9 advantage midway through the set after scoring four consecutive points. The Huskies went on a 6-0 run to bring their deficit down to 15-17.

NIU came within one point of tying the Rockets, but Toledo tallied the final kill of the set to win the second set 25-23.

“Their match the night before against Western Michigan, they had a situation where they lost really big, won the next set close, lost really big, won the fourth set close and then had an epic fifth set,” Gooden said. “We didn’t want to get caught in that kind of scenario.”

The Huskies won the final two sets of the match by a combined 19 points to take the 3-1 match victory. They held the Rockets to a combined .028 hitting percentage in the final two sets. NIU finished the match with a .256 hitting percentage, its fourth best of the season.

The Huskies will conclude their five-match road trip against the Western Michigan University Broncos 6 p.m. Wednesday, Oct. 31 in Kalamazoo, Michigan.