Volleyball won two of three matches as it took its talents west this weekend for the first road test of the season.

The Huskies (3-3) swept Tennessee and Nebraska-Omaha in straight sets Friday before losing in the Iowa State Challenge tournament championship game Saturday to the host Cyclones.

“I think it was a really successful weekend,” said sophomore middle blocker Jenna Radtke. “Compared to last year, we had a lot more energy and a lot more confidence. We stayed together as a team and that really helped us stay above the competition.”

Tennessee

NIU opened the tournament with a sweep of the Tennessee Volunteers (27-25, 25-10, 25,20). The Huskies won the kill battle with Tennessee (2-4) 41-34.

“I think it’s nice to be able to beat a BCS team and also to play well against a pretty strong team in Nebraska-Omaha,” said head coach Ray Gooden.

Senior Mackenzie Roddy led the attack against Tennessee with 15 kills and her 48.3 percent kill percentage was first on the squad in kills for players who played more than one set.

Despite the early 15-9 surge in the first set from the Volunteers, NIU was able to come out on top during the opening set.

Tennessee was in trouble early during the second set, falling behind 7-2. The Huskies put the gas pedal down and finished Tennessee off with serving. NIU concluded the set with seven service aces, including two from freshman Anna Brereton.

Nebraska-Omaha

A few hours after defeating the Volunteers, NIU took to the Hilton Coliseum floor and delivered its second straight sweep to beat Nebraska-Omaha (25-17, 25-18,25-23).

NIU’s defense was on point against the Mavericks (2-4), holding Omaha to a .071 attack percentage and forcing 21 attack errors in the three-set match-up.

“I thought we did a really good job of serving and passing today,” Gooden said. “In the Nebraska-Omaha match Jenna Radtke had a really sensational match statistically. She got herself back up to levels she had been playing parts of last year, and she did a really good job.”

Radtke led the Huskies’ offense with 13 kills and a .706 attack percentage in the NIU sweep of Nebraska-Omaha.

Junior setter Alexis “Pookie” Gonzalez had her second-best outing in the passing department. She finished the trio of sets with 29 assists against the Mavericks.

Iowa State

The Huskies’ winning ways were halted against the Iowa State Cyclones (3-2) on Saturday when they fell in three sets (20-25, 23-25, 15-25).

“I think against the home team this weekend we played well,” Radtke said. “But they just got a few runs that we couldn’t stop.”

Despite the loss, NIU’s solid serving continued in the championship match as the Huskies totaled five service aces, including four from Brereton.

In the third set NIU ran out to an 8-4 lead behind kills from sophomore outside hitter Mary Grace Kelly, Roddy and freshman middle blocker Shelby Seurer.

Things turned sour for the Huskies as their defense was not able to stop the Cyclones’ offensive onslaught. Iowa State went on a 11-1 run that shut the door on the Huskies.

Kelly and Radtke recorded seven kills in the loss. Roddy and Radtke finished with two blocks apiece while Brereton had 15 digs.

“We improved in some areas,” Gooden said. “We’re still looking to improve, but I did see there were some things that we improved on, and we need to realize how good we have to play against some of the better teams in the country. It was nice to walk away from our first road trip with two wins.”