DeKALB — The volleyball team opened the 2018 regular season in similar fashion to its 2017 season: with three consecutive home losses.

The Huskies (0-3) fell short in their three matches against the DePaul Blue Demons (22-25, 25-14, 22-25, 25-22, 13-15), Xavier Musketeers (25-20, 22-25, 20-25, 18-25) and Oklahoma Sooners (19-25, 25-17, 15-25, 20-25) Friday and Saturday in the NIU Invitational.

Friday – DePaul

NIU began its 2018 season Friday with a loss to DePaul in five sets.

Senior middle blocker Meg Wolowicz recorded a match-high 16 kills. Sophomore outside hitter Jori Radtke added 12 kills on a team-high 45 total attack attempts, and redshirt senior middle blocker Chrystal McAplin tallied nine kills and a match-high seven assisted blocks.

“We’ve been doing some pretty good things in practice, but we weren’t able to put it together fully tonight,” Head Coach Ray Gooden said. “Credit to DePaul, they did a nice job. We have to continue to get better against even more experienced teams so we can get ready to have a good day tomorrow.”

The Huskies led 15-14 midway through the opening set before the Blue Demons scored seven of the following nine points to take a 21-17 lead. NIU battled back with a 4-1 run of its own, but it fell short as DePaul scored the final two points of the set and took a 25-22 victory.

NIU dominated early in the second set, taking a 16-4 advantage behind Wolowicz’s strong start of five kills and one block. The Huskies didn’t allow their lead to shrink below 10 points for the remainder of the set and won 25-14.

NIU used a 6-0 run to get a 14-9 lead in the third set. The Blue Demons chipped away at the Huskies lead and brought the deficit down to one point, but back-to-back kills from sophomore middle blocker Kennedy Wallace and freshman middle blocker Jasmine Kemp gave NIU a 25-22 victory and 2-1 match lead.

The Huskies and Blue Demons traded leads early in the fourth set before NIU went on a 6-0 run to take a 17-14 advantage. DePaul proceeded to score five of the next six points before the Huskies retook a 20-19 lead.

The Blue Demons scored three consecutive points, but back-to-back Radtke kills tied the set at 22. DePaul scored the final three points of the set to force a fifth set.

“I think we started worrying about the score, and I’ll take responsibility for that,” Gooden said regarding the fourth set. “We just had to keep playing. Every point is a fresh opportunity, and until we’re able to just play through it, then we’re just going to keep going through these growing pains.”

The Huskies took a 7-6 advantage in the fifth set before the Blue Demons sandwiched two NIU points with separate 4-0 runs to take a 14-9 lead. The Huskies went on a 4-0 run of their own and reduced the deficit to 14-13. DePaul scored the game point, won the set 15-13 and ultimately won the match.

“We know we need to compete a lot harder, but this isn’t a bad start,” Wolowicz said. “No one should look at this as a bad loss, because this is us playing together and getting to know each other on the court. We played well; we just need to be more consistent.”

Saturday afternoon – Xavier

Xavier opened the match with a 7-4 lead before Wolowicz and Kemp kills tied the set at 13. The Musketeers regained a 19–18 advantage, but five consecutive points by Huskies spearheaded by back-to-back Wolowicz kills gave NIU a 23-19 lead. A Kemp and Wallace block gave the Huskies the set deciding point and a 25-20 victory.

NIU started the second set off strong with an 8-4 advantage. The two teams traded points before Xavier went on a 4-0 run to tie the set at 10 a piece. The Huskies regained a 13-11 lead, but the Musketeers recorded nine of the following 11 points and took a decisive 20-15 advantage.

NIU battled and brought the deficit to within two points, but the final score wasn’t enough as the Musketeers won the second set 25-22.

The Huskies experienced another strong start in the third set and took a 12-7 lead following Radtke, Wolowicz and Wallace kills. Xavier battled back and brought NIU’s lead down to 19-18. The Musketeers tallied seven of the last eight points to win the set 25-20 and take a 2-1 match lead.

NIU opened the fourth set with a 7-3 lead before Xavier tied the set 8-8. The Huskies and Musketeers traded points before Xavier went on a 4-0 run and took a 18-14 advantage. NIU was not able to regain the lead, losing the set 25-18 and the match 3-1.

Saturday evening – Oklahoma

The Sooners took an early 7-2 lead to open the match. The Huskies battled back, reducing the deficit to 10-9 before the Sooners lead ballooned to 20-13. Oklahoma won the set 25-19.

NIU and Oklahoma traded points before the Sooners took a 10-8 lead in the second set. The Huskies rattled off six consecutive points, including two Kemp kills, a Wolowicz kill and an ace from junior setter Amanda Krah, to take a 15-10 advantage.

The Huskies’ lead grew to seven, and a Wolowicz kill was the deciding point of the set as NIU won 25-17.

The Sooners opened the third set with a 9-6 lead. The two teams exchanged points until Oklahoma notched five consecutive points to take a 18-11 advantage. The Huskies didn’t reduce their deficit to less than six for the remainder of the set, and the Sooners won 25-15, taking a 2-1 match lead.

Oklahoma dominated early in the fourth set and had a 13-5 advantage following two consecutive NIU attack errors. NIU brought its deficit to within four, but was not able to overcome its initial struggles. The Huskies lost the set 25-20, and the Sooners defeated NIU 3-1 in the match.

Wolowicz was named to the NIU Invitational All-Tournament Team, leading NIU with 3.77 kills per set and a .240 hitting percentage in its three matches of the NIU Invitational.

“We learned a lot over the weekend,” Gooden said. “We have moments where we do some pretty good things. Now it’s a matter of doing it consistently for a longer period of time.”

The Huskies will return to action against the University of Wisconsin Milwaukee Panthers 6 p.m. Tuesday at Victor E. Court.