NIU’s volleyball team gave one of their gutsiest performances of the season Thursday night in a losing effort, as they dropped a 5-set match against MAC leading Western Michigan, 16-25, 25-23, 28-26, 23-25, 13-15.

In front of an electric crowd, the Huskies (14-11, 6-5) had to put their home-court prowess to the test in one of their toughest games of the year in WMU (19-3, 10-1).

“We knew if we didn’t show up, we were going to get beat, quickly,” said NIU head coach Ray Gooden. “It became a dogfight, and that’s what we were hoping it would be.”

Leading the attack for NIU was junior outside hitter Meagan Schoenrock, who led the Huskies

with 29 kills and a .373 attacking percentage. Helping Schoenrock were senior Irene Johnson and freshman Allison McGlaughlin, who tallied 12 and 21 kills, respectively.

Schoenrock also had a dominant game on the defensive end, helping the Huskies to a nine-block performance with 4.5 blocks.

Setting up the bulk of the points for NIU was junior setter Amanda Tadla, who contributed 52 of 67 total assists for the Huskies.

The Broncos, winners of their last six going in, brought a lot of energy into DeKalb, and it showed in the first set as they led by as many as 11 points before eventually winning the set, 25-16. Leading the initial attack for WMU was junior outside hitter Michelle Moore, who totaled 7 first-set kills, and 23 overall.

NIU came back out firing, as they used 16 second-set kills to take the second set, 25-23. The final three sets would follow suit, with momentum changing point-to-point and keeping both teams on their toes, right up to a 13-14 fifth set climax.

“I think it’s the first time our team really came motivated to play against the best in the [MAC] West,” Gooden said. “We put ourselves in spots where we could do it, we just came up short. We’ve got to find a way to finish out these matches.”

The Huskies will resume action on Saturday, as they travel to take on second place Miami (Ohio) (14-8, 8-2).