DeKALB | With the way NIU and Indiana University-Purdue University Fort Wayne were battling back and forth Tuesday night, it’s only fitting that the match would come down to the fifth game.

Unfortunately for the Huskies, the fifth game was not very kind to them as they watched an early 5-2 lead turn into a 13-15 loss that gave IPFW the 26-30, 30-23, 21-30, 30-20, 15-13 win at Victor E. Court.

“We didn’t handle the ball the way we needed too,” said NIU coach Ray Gooden. “Our ball control was good at times, but wasn’t as good as it needed to be at other times.”

The first four games were up and down with NIU (7-5) winning the first and third.

In between those games however, the Mastodons (9-8) were able to stop NIU’s offense, winning 30-23 and 30-19.

“I think a lot of it was on our side,” said sophomore middle blocker Katie Walsh, “We are very capable of playing better than we did tonight.”

Kate McCullagh led all players with 33 kills, 12 of which came in the first game.

Sophomore Mandi Caputo had 59 assists, while Gina Guide recorded 32 digs.

“This was a match we knew we should have won,” said Gooden. “It should be a good wake-up call for us to know we’ll have 16 tough matches coming up in conference.”

After losing such a close match, McCullagh is hoping to use it as motivation for the rest of the season.

“I just want to come out and crush the next team we play now.”

Andy Pruski is a Sports Reporter for the Northern Star.