A 2nd place finish in the Best Western Invitational isn’t what the host Huskies would’ve liked, but the weekend tournament seemed to help NIU coach Ray Gooden determine where his volleyball team stands.

The Huskies lost to Indiana University in the championship match Saturday night (30-28, 26-30, 23-30, 23-30) to finish as the runner-up.

In order to get to Saturday night’s championship, NIU played the nightcap on Friday and handled IUPUI in three games 30-17, 30-25, 30-20.

Saturday afternoon the Huskies took the first two games against Drake University, but lost the next two before eventually finishing off the Bulldogs in the fifth and decisive game to advance to the final match.

“I think that for our first weekend together it wasn’t bad,” Gooden said. “There were a couple of specific things that we were trying to work on and at times we saw flashes of it. Now we know where we’re at and we know that there are a lot of things we have to work on, so we’ll go from there.”

NIU played the weekend without sophomore Tera Lobdell, last year’s MAC Freshman of the Year. She sat out with a sprained left knee.

Middle blocker Jen VonderHaar and outside hitter Tenisha Wilkins made the All-Tournament team for their efforts. In Saturday’s matinee against Drake, VonderHaar became the 12th player in NIU history to record 1,000 kills.

Junior Brooke Dodson, who participated last season as more of a role player off the bench, displayed her athleticism consistently throughout the weekend.

Dodson racked up 34 kills and 25 digs. Last season the outside hitter compiled only 35 kills on the season.

“I think Brooke is trying her hardest to take advantage of every opportunity she has right now,” Gooden said. “She had an opportunity to hit outside tonight and she did a great job. Her role might change, her role might not change, and she understands that.”

Setter Jenny Rohren and defensive specialist Melissa Benson, who both transferred to NIU in the offseason, started for the Huskies.

Benson tallied 28 digs in the three games while Rohren garnered the responsibility of setting up the offense in her Huskie debut.

The tournament was played on the new Victor E. Court inside the Convocation Center. This was the first sporting event to take place in the new complex.

“We love it,” said Dodson of the new gym. “As long as we keep getting a lot of coverage then we’ll get a lot of fans. I don’t want to be able to hear my coach when I’m on the court or when I’m on the bench because it’s so loud in here.”