DeKALB | The NIU volleyball team notched its first conference win Saturday night.

The Huskies (9-7, 1-1) defeated Bowling Green (10-6, 0-2) Saturday night in their first conference match at Victor E. Court. The win pushes NIU’s home record to a MAC-best 7-1.

The Huskies successfully defended Victor E. Court in convincing fashion this season, with all of their home wins coming in three sets.

“It’s great to continue to defend home, that’s the biggest thing,” said NIU head coach Ray Gooden. “You know, you could say ‘it’s Bowling Green,’ or that it’s a rebound from Thursday.

Whatever scenario or excuse you want, it’s great to defend our home again here tonight.”

The NIU defense was key in overcoming the Falcons, holding Bowling Green to a .191 attacking percentage and totaling seven blocks. The Huskies allowed only Falcon junior Corey Domek to register double digit kills.

The Huskies countered with a balanced attack keyed by freshman setter Kristen Hoffman, who did a good job of distributing the ball to many different options.

“I think Kristen Hoffman did exactly what we all expected her to do tonight, which was go out here and lead the team and create energy for our group,” Gooden said. “You know she’s going to continue to get better as a setter, so it’s nice to have two very solid, capable setters in our group right now.”

Pacing the offensive attack for NIU was junior middle blocker Cassie Yates, who tallied career-highs in both kills and attacking percentage, with 11 and .714, respectively.

Early on, it looked like the Huskies would be in trouble, at times looking lost and out of position throughout the first set.

“There were so many things that we’re trying to worry about both offensively and defensively that we got a little discombobulated,” Gooden said. “I thought we did a really good job of kind of masking those plays, so that those didn’t end up hurting us in the long run.”

Things turned around after that, as the Huskies started attacking the ball with tenacity in the second set. In the third set, Bowling Green looked flustered, struggling and making errors, allowing the Huskies to close out the match with a 15-4 run.

“I just think that the pressure we continued to provide was the difference,” Gooden said. “It was nice for our team to continue to stay stable while Bowling Green was continuing to struggle. We continued to get stronger and that was just a sign of what a good team can do when they feel confident about what’s going on.”