A day after winning its sixth consecutive home match, in straight sets, the NIU volleyball team fell hard in MAC play, with a five-game loss to Kent State.

The Huskies (13-3, 2-2 MAC) won with scores of 30-21, 30-23 and 30-27 over Akron Friday. NIU then traded games with the Golden Flashes before losing 30-25, 25-30, 30-26, 24-30 and 17-15 on Saturday.

The Huskies committed 58 errors in the five-game loss to the Flashes (6-6, 2-1).

“I know on paper it says we’re [13-3] and they’re under .500, but in the conference, everybody is real close right now, and every match is going to be tough,” NIU coach Ray Gooden said. “I think the crowd got excited last night with the win over Akron, but every match is going to be like [the Kent State match].”

The Huskies lost the first game and won the second and fourth to send the match to a decisive fifth game. With play shortened to just 15 points to win, the Huskies quickly fell behind 3-0 to start. They rallied and eventually tied it at 15, with the winner needing to win by two. The Flashes then closed out the match with consecutive kills by Jenny Weilert and Karry Griffin.

“We just stuck with our game and stayed aggressive,” said Kent State coach Mora Kanim about winning the fifth game. “It was kind of a battle of whichever team was more aggressive at any given time was the team that was winning. So we were two points more aggressive than they were, and that’s not a very big difference.”

“They are a very tough team, and we will not take anything away from [Kent State],” senior outside hitter Brooke Dodson said. “They are a very respectful team, but we made some mental errors that held us back.”

Junior outside hitter Tera Lobdell led the Huskies with 23 kills, with a .340 hitting percentage. Megan Markowski, a junior middle blocker, contributed with 13 kills and a .393 hitting percentage for NIU against the Flashes.

The Huskies out-shot Akron (6-9, 1-2) in service aces 11-0 Friday. On Saturday, NIU was out-shot 11-3 by the Flashes.