ere hung low and spirits were exhausted after a victory eluded the Huskies Friday night in a five-game loss to Toledo.

Twenty-four hours later, Victor E. Court was packed with players screaming and jumping in a euphoric celebration as the Huskies won a grueling game five against rival Ball State.

The Huskies (11-11, 4-4 MAC) lost to Toledo (12-8, 5-3) in five games (30-23, 26-30, 28-30, 30-21, 7-15) while beating rival Ball State (10-8, 4-4) in a quintet of games (23-30, 30-27, 28-30, 30-27, 15-13).

Junior middle blocker Kate McCullagh posted a triple double (24 kills, 11 total blocks, and 17 digs) on Friday night, but it was Toledo’s domination behind the serving line that proved to be the determining force of the game.

Toledo, which leads the MAC with 2.34 aces per game, used its devastating serving power to full advantage on the Huskies, as the Rockets where able to beat the Huskies in every game where they had one or more service aces.

“We’re a very good serving team,” said Rockets head coach Kent Miller. “It’s a big part of our success and it helped us to get over the top in game five.”

All five games were full of long runs by both teams. For NIU head coach Ray Gooden, this sort of play proved consistency of play is the leading factor to success.

“A point here and point there, and then we let a huge run happen,” Gooden said. “You can’t win in a short game that way. It’s virtually impossible.”

NIU started Saturday night down 0-5 to Ball State. Instead of backing down to the Cardinals, the Huskies fought back and made every point into a battle between the two teams for the rest of the night.

“We’ve played some matches this year where we’ve quit, but we didn’t do that tonight,” Gooden said after Saturday’s win. “We didn’t feel like the match was ever out of our hands.”

McCullagh led the team with 31 kills, while Corinne Walsh and Joelle Beisel added 15 and 11 kills, respectively.

The Huskies also posted a total of 99 team digs, as libero Marie Zidek provided 31 digs and Megan Sprangers added an additional 24 digs.

“Yesterday we had our opportunities but didn’t execute,” junior libero Gina Guide said. “Tonight we executed and took advantage of our chances.”

The team’s execution depends a great deal on the success of freshman setter Jenny Dziubla. As the setter, Dziubla has the large task of controlling the Huskies’ offense.

“Jenny unfortunately can’t play like a freshman,” Gooden said. “We need her to put out a high level of energy at all times, because your setter eventually becomes your leader.”

McCullagh feels Dziubla is working hard to achieve the task at hand.

“It’s hard for a freshman to come in and control the team,” McCullagh said. “But she’s doing a great job and is showing improvement and that’s great to see.”

Dziubla admits the learning curve has been a steep one but she’s starting to get used to what’s expected of her.

“I think I’m getting better and better,” Dziubla said. “I’m a lot more comfortable now that I have had more playing experience, and it’s becoming more natural.”