After a four-game road trip, the volleyball team returned to action at Victor E. Court Friday and Saturday for match ups against the Ohio University Bobcats and the Kent State University Golden Flashes.

The Huskies (6-19, 5-5 Mid-American Conference) lost in four sets (18-25, 23-25, 25-23, 20-25) to the Bobcats Friday and defeated the Golden Flashes in three sets (43-41, 25-22, 25-20) Saturday. The victory over Kent State marked the first sweep by the volleyball team this season.

Head Coach Ray Gooden said he sees promise in the team and believes they can play at a high level consistently.

“We’re capable of doing [playing at a high level],” Gooden said. “It’s really a mindset for our team right now, and that’s the hardest part for our group to understand. When our team wants to do it they can do it and just understanding to do it all the time, back-to-back days, consecutive matches, consecutive plays, that’s why we’re still young but we’re growing and getting better, and it was good for us to defend home court tonight.”

 

Friday — Ohio

The Huskies began the weekend with a loss to Ohio. Freshman outside hitter Kaylee Martin led NIU with 13 kills and 10 digs. Senior setter Chandler Kinley paced the team in assists with 32.

The first set was tied 8-8 before Ohio scored seven of the next 10 points to take a five point lead. NIU chipped away at the lead and brought the deficit down to three, but the Bobcats closed out the set with a 5-1 run to win the set 25-18.

NIU held a 14-9 lead over Ohio to start the second set. The Bobcats responded by scoring 10 of the next 14 points to take a one point lead. The Huskies battled and regained the lead 23-21, but Ohio went on a 4-0 run at the end and won it 25-23.

The Bobcats took a late 21-17 lead in the third set, but the Huskies fought back at the end and scored seven of the next nine points to win the set 25-23 and force a fourth set.

The fourth set was tied 17-17, before the Bobcats went on a 3-0 run to give themselves the lead. NIU brought the deficit down to two points, but Ohio scored five of the last seven points in the set, won the set 25-20 and won the match in four sets.

“As lopsided as it was statistically, we were in almost every set,” Gooden said.

 

Saturday – Kent State

The Huskies continued their home-stand with a win against Kent State.

{{tncms-inline account=”RunAdrianMyers” html=”<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Sweet "W" at home tonight <a href="https://twitter.com/Raygooden_niu?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@Raygooden_niu</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/NIUVOLLEYBALL?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@NIUVOLLEYBALL</a> !!! ❤️❤️❤️🐾🐾🐾🏐🏐🏐</p>— Adrian Myers (@RunAdrianMyers) <a href="https://twitter.com/RunAdrianMyers/status/921920560245985280?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">October 22, 2017</a></blockquote>” id=”921920560245985280″ type=”twitter”}}

Freshman outside hitter Jori Radtke recorded a career-high 15 kills, Martin tallied 13 kills and 22 digs for her second straight double-double and Kinley had a match-high 48 assists.

“I think we played composed volleyball tonight,” Gooden said. “Even though there might’ve been some crazy things that happened, I think we did a nice job of recovering and also taking advantage of opportunities.”

Both teams made history in the first set. The opening set tied for the third-longest set in NCAA Division I since 2008 and is the longest in MAC play during that time, according to NIU Media Services.

NIU took an early 10-7 lead, and from that point onward neither team had a lead greater than two points. The Golden Flashes took a 41-40 lead before a kill by Martin, a block by Wolowicz and a combined block by sophomore middle blocker Brinley Milbrath and Wolowicz gave the Huskies the 43-41 victory in the first set.

Martin led NIU with nine kills in the set.

“We’re calling it a four-set sweep, since we scored 43 [points],” Kinley said. “But, it was good, we stuck with a tough mindset the first game. We were talking about winning the game throughout it and when it got late in the game. I think it was a good moment of change to have that under our belt going into the second set.”

Kent State had a 14-10 lead to start the second set before NIU scored five of the next six points to tie the game at 15. Neither team had a lead larger than two points until an error by the Golden Flashes increased the Huskies’ lead to three and a kill by Wolowicz gave NIU the set victory.

{{tncms-inline account=”NIUVOLLEYBALL” html=”<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Get your brooms Huskie fans! That's a sweep in Victor E. we will be back on October 25th vs WMU! <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/SpikeCancer?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#SpikeCancer</a> 🏐🐺 <a href="https://t.co/uLPzYOuyws">pic.twitter.com/uLPzYOuyws</a></p>— NIU Volleyball (@NIUVOLLEYBALL) <a href="https://twitter.com/NIUVOLLEYBALL/status/921927053145931776?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">October 22, 2017</a></blockquote>” id=”921927053145931776″ type=”twitter”}}

NIU took a commanding 9-4 lead to start the third set. Kent State retaliated by going on a 4-0 run to bring the deficit down to a single point. The Huskies responded by scoring six of the next seven points to give themselves a six point lead. The Golden Flashes brought the deficit down to two, but the Huskies didn’t relinquish the lead for the rest of the set and completed the sweep with a 25-20 victory.

Radtke had six kills in the final set.

“I just think the team was clicking better and me and Chandler were really connecting on sets,” Radtke said. “I was swinging fast and seeing the block better than I usually do, and that changed it.”

The Huskies will return to action to conclude their four-game home stand against the Western Michigan Broncos 7 p.m. Wednesday.