The volleyball team concluded their four-game road stretch this weekend with a game Friday against the University at Buffalo Bulls and Saturday against the University of Akron Zips, going 1-1.

The Huskies (5-18, 4-4 Mid-American Conference) lost in three sets (25-23, 25-14, 25-19) to the Bulls Friday and defeated the Zips in five sets (25-22, 19-25, 25-20, 20-25, 15-11) Saturday. The team’s loss to Buffalo ended its three-game winning streak.

Head Coach Ray Gooden looks forward to playing six of the next eight matches at home.

“Two of our eight [conference] matches have been at home,” Gooden said. “So, we played six of them on the road, and we worked really hard to battle to at least be competitive. So, hopefully now on the back-half, we can continue to improve while we defend our home court.”

Friday — Buffalo

The Huskies commenced the weekend with a loss to Buffalo. Freshman outside hitter Kaylee Martin and junior middle blocker Meg Wolowicz each led NIU with nine kills. Senior setter Chandler Kinley paced the team in assists with 26.

NIU jumped out to 9-4 lead in the first set. The Bulls slowly chipped away at the Huskies’ lead before taking the 17-14 lead. NIU was not able to regain the lead and lost the set 25-23.

The Huskies had an early 7-6 lead to start the second set. The Bulls retaliated when they scored 12 of the next 14 points to lead 19-8. NIU was unable to bring the deficit within seven points, and Buffalo won the set 25-14.

Wolowicz led NIU with four kills in the second set.

Gooden believed the physicality of Buffalo was tough for the Huskies to deal with.

“I thought Buffalo came in with a lot of energy, and they played a very physical game against us tonight,” Gooden said. “They seemed to stay a step ahead ahead of us; they did a good job of defending their home court.”

Buffalo took a commanding 11-6 lead to begin the third set. NIU managed to bring the deficit to two points, but the Bulls didn’t relinquish the lead and won the set 25-19, which completed the match sweep.

Gooden believed NIU should’ve came into the match with a better mindset.

“It’s about being consistent,” Gooden said. “I think the other matches we came in with the mindset that we didn’t want to lose, and we were determined to be successful. We just have to get back to that tomorrow night against Akron; it’s hard to win on the road. It’s important for us to be one group together to battle a team.”

Saturday — Akron

The Huskies finished their road trip with their match against Akron.

NIU was led by 18 kills from Wolowicz, 16 kills from Martin, 47 assists from Kinley and 22 digs from senior libero Anna Brereton.

“I think it was two teams who were really fighting hard to get a victory,” Gooden said. “It was nice for our group to pull it out at the end right when we needed to.”

The Huskies led the Zips 15-11 to start the first set. Toledo went on a 4-0 run to tie the game 15-15, but a 3-0 run by NIU gave them the boost they needed to win the set 25-22.

NIU jumped out to an early 8-2 lead in the second set.

The Zips responded with a 12-2 run to take a four point lead. The Huskies only managed to bring the deficit within three points, and Akron won the set 25-19.

Akron and NIU were tied 13-13 in the third set before the Huskies scored eight of the next nine points to take a seven point lead. The Zips used a 3-0 run to bring the deficit down to three points, but NIU won the set 25-20 after a service ace by freshman defensive specialist Miranda Karlen.

The fourth set featured a competitive back-and-forth until Akron went on a 7-1 run to give themselves a 16-10 lead. NIU battled, but they weren’t able to takeover the lead, and the Zips won the set 25-20 and forced a fifth set.

The two teams were tied 10-10 in the fifth set until NIU used a 5-1 run, which included three kills by Martin, to win the set 15-11 and defeated the Zips for the match.

{{tncms-inline account=”NIUVOLLEYBALL” html=”<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">That's a wrap in Akron!!!! Great win against the Zips! We are back at home next weekend for <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/SpikeCancer?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#SpikeCancer</a> Wear Pink! <a href="https://t.co/HJWlpWSsWC">pic.twitter.com/HJWlpWSsWC</a></p>— NIU Volleyball (@NIUVOLLEYBALL) <a href="https://twitter.com/NIUVOLLEYBALL/status/919348316302921728?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">October 14, 2017</a></blockquote>” id=”919348316302921728″ type=”twitter”}}

Gooden was happy to see his team finish the road trip in strong fashion.

“We were just excited to get a chance to make up for last night,” Gooden said. “So, we came in there with the idea that we can play together as a group, [and] we can do some positive things. We were able to show it, and it went back and forth the entire time. So, it’s nice for our group to be able to find the success to be okay.”

The Huskies will return to Victor E. Court to start their four-game home stand against the Ohio University Bobcats 7 p.m. Friday.