The volleyball team lost their eighth match in a row Tuesday against the University of Northern Iowa Panthers. It’s the Huskies worst start to a season since 2008, a season they began with a 2-7 record.

The Huskies (0-8, 0-0 Mid-American Conference) lost the match 3-0 for the third time in a row, dating back to their loss against the University of Texas-Rio Grande Valley Vaqueros Friday and against the University of Oregon Ducks Saturday. This is the fifth time this season the Huskies failed to win a set in a match, compared to four all season in 2016.

The Huskies got off to a slow start in the first set but managed to get off to more competitive starts in the second and third sets. Unfortunately, their efforts ultimately fell short and they lost the match in three sets (25-14, 25-16, 25-21).

“Northern Iowa is a very good team [and are] relentless on defense,” said Head Coach Ray Gooden. “I thought that we, at times, battled and learned from our mistakes. [Northern Iowa] was able to have success in the long rallies.”

The Huskies were led by freshman outside hitter Kaylee Martin, who had 11 points for the match, including 10 kills and 13 digs.

The Huskies started the first set off slow and faced a 7-1 deficit before calling a timeout. The Huskies played a more competitive set following the timeout, playing the Panthers even before Northern Iowa went on a 5-0 run to secure the victory 25-14. The Panthers hit slightly over 30 percent and recorded 17 kills in the opening set.

NIU improved as the set went on but ended up losing the set. Gooden believes the Huskies should aim for faster starts.

“You don’t want to build yourself to that point,” Gooden said. “We’ve had a couple matches where we’ve started slow, but [fast starts] has to be our standard now.”

The Huskies had a significantly better start in the second set. They had a 3-2 lead early on before allowing Northern Iowa to go on a 8-1 run. The Panthers went on another late run and ended up winning the set 25-16. Martin recorded seven kills for NIU, who hit about 38 percent in the second set.

The third set not only featured another strong start from the Huskies, but it had a strong back-and-forth between NIU and Northern Iowa. Neither team led by more than three points until the Panthers went on a 3-0 run to lead 21-16. The Huskies went on a 3-0 run of their own but were unable to get over the hump and lost 25-21. Freshman outside hitter Jori Radtke recorded 10 digs for the match.

Gooden, despite the loss, was happy with how the team played in the final set.

“In the third set, we played the style of volleyball that we need to try to use as our standard [for the year],” Gooden said.

The Huskies will be in search for their first victory Friday and Saturday at the Iowa Invitational where they’ll face the University of Iowa Hawkeyes twice and the No. 22 ranked Iowa State University Cyclones.

Gooden believes consistently getting off to better starts will be a key to turning their fortunes around and improving on a game-by-game basis.

“We’ve got to start off [matches] how we finish [matches], that’s the biggest thing,” Gooden said. “We’ve got to continue to build and continue to work towards getting stronger.”

The Huskies look for their first win as they will begin the Iowa Invitational facing the Hawkeyes in a match 1 p.m. Friday in Iowa City, Iowa. They’ll continue the tournament against the Cyclones 1 p.m. Saturday before competing against the Hawkeyes again 7 p.m. Saturday in Iowa City, Iowa.