For the second straight weekend, NIU’s volleyball team has played in an out-of-state invitational, and for the second straight weekend, they finished in second place.

The Huskies finished 2-1 when they traveled to Texas to compete in the Corpus Christi Invitational. NIU’s (5-6) wins came against Texas Pan-American and Texas A&M Corpus Christi, while their loss came at the hands of San Diego State.

Freshman outside hitter Dani D’Ambrose continued to be a handful for defenses. Against Texas Pan-American, D’Ambrose recorded 29 kills in a four game match. The Huskies also got some help from sophomore setter Amanda Tadla.

The Oak Lawn native made the most of her playing time by recording 26 assists.

“We wanted to get Amanda Tadla in and give her a chance to get some reps because she has been doing some good things in practice,” NIU coach Ray Gooden said. “She helped us in game two and also did a good job in games three and four.”

The Huskies struggled offensively against San Diego State, hitting for a .090 clip.

D’Ambrose and junior Laura Baetzel led the way combining for 40 kills (22 and 18 respectively).

San Diego State made things difficult for NIU with a strong front line. The Aztecs had 20 team blocks.

“We battled hard (Saturday),” Gooden said. “This was a learning experience for us and we will use this for the future.”