Assistant coach Tenisha Wilkin’s NIU single-season kills record is safe for one more match.

Tera Lobdell needed 15 kills to break the record. She had 12 on Tuesday night in a first-round MAC Tournament win against Buffalo at Victor E. Court.

One of the reasons Lobdell came up short was because the Huskies’ trio of middle blockers combined for 29 kills.

Megan Markowski had a match-high 13 kills. Kate McCullagh added 10 kills, and Corinne Walsh pitched in with six.

“It’s really hard to have just one or two people on the team that you look to to put the ball down,” Markowski said. “Any way Kate or Corinne or I can help, we try. Any kind of pressure we can alleviate for the outsides just makes them that much better.”

The trio also combined for 12 blocking assists and two solo blocks. Both of the solo blocks came from McCullagh.

The Huskies understand that everyone has to make contributions each night to be a successful team.

“We can’t just bank on two people because those other teams will just go and sit on them and block them, and that’s not going to help,” Markowski said.

Lobdell saw something she thought helped her team pull out a victory.

“Our middles kept their middles honest so we get better open looks,” said Lobdell, about herself and outside hitter Brooke Dodson. “Last year, [Buffalo] released to the outside and we had a double block against us every time. If our middles keep them honest, it makes our team a more well-rounded team.”