For the second straight season, the Huskies’ volleyball team dropped its season-opening conference match.

NIU lost to Ball State University Wednesday at Victor E. Court in four games; 31-33, 30-28, 24-30 and 27-30.

The 121 points scored by the Cardinals tied an NCAA record for most points scored in a four-game match.

“We needed a little more consistent play,” coach Ray Gooden said. “We needed to take advantage of opportunities that we had. We had chances to put pressure on them and we didn’t.”

The Huskies (7-5, 0-1 MAC) had nine more kills and 10 more assists than Ball State (5-6, 1-0 MAC), but committed 18 more errors.

Jenny Rohren had 61 assists, which is her season-high in a four-game match this season.

NIU had seven service aces as Tera Lobdell posted a career-high three aces in a four-game match.

The Huskies also made their mark on the attack. Tenisha Wilkins, Rena Widboom, Jen VonderHaar and Lobdell combined for 71 of the team’s 73 kills. Wilkins led NIU with 22.

In the third game, NIU was awarded a point, but had it taken away as the referee said Rohren committed a double-hit. Gooden got out of his seat, visibly upset with the call, and received his first yellow card at NIU.

“I’m not sure,” said Gooden, when asked if the yellow card effected the team. “I’d like to think that it didn’t, but over a period of time, we lose our mental edge over teams.”

The Cardinals were paced by Sarah Obras, Katie Butts and Jenna Foster, who had 17, 15 and 14 kills, respectively.

The Huskies were solid defensively as they had eight team blocks. Middle blocker Rena Widboom had one solo block and four blocking assists.

Melissa Benson played the libero position and had a match-high 22 digs.

“She got a lot of digs [Wednesday] and that was good,” Gooden said.

While NIU had eight blocks, the Cardinals bettered them by three.

“They made a couple of adjustments by stopping Jen’s slide,” Gooden said. “It was just us; we didn’t make smart decisions.”

After being named to the All-Tournament team in the Country Inn and Suites Classic, Brooke Dodson played in just one game tonight as the outside hitter.

“T had one of her better hitting nights tonight,” Gooden said of Wilkins. “Lobdell is still there too.”