After starting the weekend with an opening-round victory, the NIU volleyball team dropped its final two matches of the Northern Iowa Invitational and fell to 3-8 on the season.

On her birthday, middle blocker Kate McCullagh, 20, had a career-high 27 kills to help NIU beat South Florida on Friday.

“Kate did a really good job of putting herself in a position to make positive plays and taking advantage of those opportunities,” coach Ray Gooden said.

Although the NIU offense had a season-high 66 kills, defense also carried the match as the Huskies held the Bulls to a .091 hitting percentage. Junior Megan Sprangers started as outside hitter for the third straight game, contributing 11 digs and a career-high three blocks.

But any momentum NIU had was quickly lost when they played host Northern Iowa on Saturday afternoon.

The Panthers swept the Huskies in three games. Errors ultimately decided the match as NIU committed 26 compared to only 16 for Northern Iowa. The defense displayed against South Florida did not show up, either, as the Panthers hit .239 as a team compared to .153 for the Huskies.

“Each of the three games we lost were close,” Gooden noted. “Unfortunately, we didn’t turn a couple of points when we had the chance to, and that made a big difference.”

Despite almost identical statistics across the board, the Huskies missed their chance for two wins on the weekend after a close 3-1 loss to Bradley.

Five starters for NIU reached double figures in digs for the match, including 23 from sophomore libero Gina Guide. Tera Lobdell once again led the offense with 22 kills -the eighth time she reached that mark this season.

“We are still learning how to be successful,” Gooden added. “We have to learn how to score critical points when we have the opportunity to. That’s what you have to do to beat good teams, and we are going to see more good teams in the Mid-American Conference.”

Good news came for the Huskies as senior middle blocker Megan Markowski returned to play five minutes in the Bradley match. Markowski missed the previous five matches with a foot injury.