Seeking a rebound from back-to-back losses last weekend, NIU volleyball traveled to Western Michigan on Thursday night in hopes of a win that never happened.

In their fifth consecutive road match, the Huskies (23-5 overall, 9-4 MAC) went into the match seeking a repeat of their Sept. 30 home match, when the team took down the Broncos (20-8, 9-4) for the first time since 2006.

The Huskies came out in dominant fashion, opening up with a 7-0 run before receiving a kill from Broncos’ middle blocker Jessica Brown. Brown ended her evening with 13 kills and a .364 hitting percentage.

“She’s a real aggressive hitter and we knew she’d be getting a lot of balls,” said NIU middle blocker Sarah Angelos. “We tried to respect her as much as possible and make sure we went with her on our block.”

The Huskie women would finish the set with 21 of their 25 points off of kills, with an additional two from service aces provided by outside hitters Allison McGlaughlin and Lauren Wicinski. The team took down the Broncos 25-16.

“[We] put a lot of pressure on [the Broncos], did a really good job of making them play the ball,” said NIU head coach Ray Gooden of the first set. “Then whenever they gave us back the ball we took advantage of our opportunities.”

But scores were reverse in the second set, with the Broncos taking down the Huskies 25-16. After losing in the third 19-25, the Huskies faced a crucial fourth set. Down 19-18, the Huskies clawed back to a 23-21 overturn with two kills and a block kill by Angelos, which Gooden said swung momentum. Wicinski would stop the Bronco wins by adding two more kills, including the game-winner to take the set 25-23.

But the Broncos bucked the Huskies in the fifth 17-15 after a service error by Wicinski and kill from Broncos’ middle blocker Ashley Turnage.

With the loss, the Huskies are now in a third-place tie in the MAC West with the Broncos. They look forward to coming home for Saturday’s match against Bowling Green (8-19, 2-10).

“We’ve been on the road a long time,” Angelos said. “We’re trying to get back to good volleyball, playing together. I think being at home will help that a lot.”