Heading into the weekend, the NIU volleyball team was 12-0 in matches where they had won the first game.

On Friday and Saturday, the Huskies took at least a one-game lead to start both matches, but failed to come away with a win either time.

NIU (16-9, 5-7 MAC) took a 1-0 lead against Western Michigan (14-9, 7-5 MAC), only to lose 3-1 against the Broncos, who were tied at the time with the Huskies for second place in the MAC West Division.

“[WMU] started playing with confidence and they played a lot better volleyball than us,” NIU coach Ray Gooden said.

In the loss to Buffalo (10-16, 4-8 MAC) on Saturday, the Huskies had a two-game advantage, and a 15-11 lead at one point in the third game, before losing in five, 24-30, 18-30, 30-25, 30-28, 15-12. For the Bulls, it was the first match they won after trailing by two games.

“I don’t know what it was,” Buffalo coach Sally Kus said. “We came in wanting to win, but we certainly didn’t play like it. Down two, I think they started thinking about the 13-hour bus ride home, because they started playing with some passion.”

“We had mental lapses and didn’t put pressure on the other team,” NIU’s Tera Lobdell said.

The Huskies trailed by as many as six late in the fourth game, but rallied to tie it at 28, forcing Buffalo to call a time-out. After the time-out, senior outside hitter Lindsay Makintosh recorded a pair of kills to put the game away for the Bulls.

“We had a chance to be 6-6, and we just blew that chance,” Gooden said. “Now we have to figure out a way to win these matches back against Central and Eastern Michigan next weekend.”

Makintosh finished with a match-high 21 kills and a team-high 16 digs for UB.

Junior middle blocker Megan Markowski had a .414 hitting percentage and led the Huskies with 16 kills in the loss to Buffalo. Lobdell added 15 kills and 13 digs in the loss.

Two wins over the weekend would have put NIU in a three-way tie for first place with Central and Eastern Michigan, two teams the Huskies will play in their next two matches.

Instead, the Huskies now are in fifth place, two games behind first place.