Junior middle blocker Kate McCullagh may be leading the NCAA in kills per game, but coach Ray Gooden attributed the Huskies’ win against Bowling Green on Sunday to his defense.

“Our defenders played absolutely amazing,” Gooden said.

He singled out Marie Zidek, Megan Sprangers and Gina Guide for their play.

The Huskies (9-9, 2-2 MAC) beat the Falcons (7-8, 1-3 MAC) 30-27, 30-23, 23-30, 30-24 at Anderson Arena in Bowling Green, Ohio.

While McCullagh led the team with 19 kills and sophomore outside hitter Amy Ward posted a career-high 17 kills, it was the team’s defense that carried it to victory.

“Our ability to play good defense and turn that into points was the difference today,” Gooden said.

The Huskies produced a total of 82 digs in the four games.

Zidek led the Huskies’ defensive movement with 30 digs. Guide and Sprangers supplied an additional 16 and 10 digs, respectively.

“As a team, we really stepped up,” Sprangers said. “Good defense, good blocking and good serving led to our success.”

The Huskies played a close first game against the Falcons and pulled ahead at the end to win 30-27.

The momentum from game one carried the Huskies to an 18-13 lead in game two, which led to a 30-23 victory.

“We had pretty good control in Game 2,” Gooden said.

The Huskies then came up flat in game three, as they only posted a team hitting percentage of .140 against the Falcons’ .311 hitting percentage.

NIU was able to recover in game four and take a 19-10 lead. It turned into a 30-24 Huskies’ victory.

Although NIU was able to pull out a win against Bowling Green, Gooden feels there is still room for his team to improve its consistency.

“We were able to execute at times, but we were still inconsistent at other times,” Gooden said. “We had to travel a lot, so we were not as fresh as on Thursday.”

Sprangers agreed with her coach.

“We’re definitely focusing on [consistency],” the senior libero said. “We’re working on it, and it’s getting better.”