It’s been said that defense wins championships; it also doesn’t hurt in ending four-match losing streaks.

Going up against the top team in the MAC West Division, the NIU volleyball team needed to step it up in some way to try and stop adding to the loss column, Megan Sprangers said.

“We haven’t been pulling through lately,” said Sprangers, who set the school record with 35 digs Friday against Akron. “But with how we played on defense, we deserved this win.”

Sprangers, who had only nine digs against Eastern Michigan, had some key digs, including a couple where she and defensive specialist, Gina Guide, combined to keep rallies alive.

From the first serve of the match to the last, both went all out and put their heart into every play, Guide said.

Guide, who lead the team with 21 digs, went so all out that during a scramble in the first game, she saved the ball from going out of bounds by throwing her body into the drink cart and knocking over the Gatorade cooler.

But Guide’s and Spranger’s selfless plays in the back court would not have been possible without a little help at the net.

“We touched the ball on the block really well,” NIU coach Ray Gooden said. “The defense got touches on the ball all night and helped carry us.”

Behind six blocks by Megan Markowski and another five turned in by Tera Lobdell, the Huskie blockers held EMU to a .201 hitting percentage in game one and a .000 hitting percentage in game two.

“The blockers make our jobs a lot easier,” Guide said. “So when they are doing their job, [the back row] better do theirs. It’s kind of like our reward to the blockers. We do our job on defense and that just makes them want to play better on offense.”