A stalled offense and an injury to Megan Markowski sent the NIU volleyball team to its third straight loss Tuesday at Illinois State.

The Huskies (8-17) dropped the non-conference match 3-1 to the Redbirds (16-6).

Senior middle blocker Markowski did not play because of an ankle injury suffered in practice Wednesday. Teammate Tera Lobdell, a senior outside hitter, said the injury probably was not serious, and Markowski was held out as a precaution.

Markowski missed five games earlier in the year with the same injury in her other ankle.

Lobdell totaled a school-record 102 attempts and supplied 28 of the Huskies’ 49 kills. No other NIU player reached double-digits in kills as the team was held to a .074 hitting percentage for the match.

Outside hitter Corinne Walsh hit a team-low -.238 with four kills and nine errors for the Huskies.

“Other players had to step into unfamiliar positions,” Lobdell said. “I think they read our trends well and put themselves in good position to dig us.”

Sophomore middle blocker Kate McCullagh led NIU with eight blocks and added eight kills.

Libero Paige White set a Redbird match record with 27 digs to keep the Huskies offense at bay.

“They were able to be more balanced,” NIU coach Ray Gooden said. “Tera scored a bunch of points early from the back row, but ISU made the adjustment, particularly Paige, who has really committed herself to the libero position and has done a great job.”

NIU trailed early in Game 1, but battled back to within two points at 20-22 before dropping eight of the next nine points to close out the game.

Game 2 mirrored Game 1 as Illinois State scored 10 of the last 13 points to take a two-game lead.

The Huskies struck back in Game 3 with a 30-28 win to prolong the match, but the Redbirds jumped out to a 17-6 lead in Game 4, which they wouldn’t relinquish en route to a 30-21 victory.