While winning a tournament is usually a team effort, the trio of Jen VonderHaar, Brooke Dodson and Tera Lobdell were recognized more for their efforts this weekend.

VonderHaar was named NIU/Country Inn and Suites Invitational MVP while Dodson and Lobdell made the All-Tournament team as each of them contributed mightily to the Huskie tournament title.

“This weekend we had a lot of goals in mind of things we wanted to execute and I think everyone contributed to that,” Dodson said.

The 5-foot-9 Dodson compiled 35 digs and 25 kills, many of which were of the monstrous variety. Lobdell had 49 kills and 39 digs. She also had three service aces against Mississippi State on Saturday.

The most impressive performance came from VonderHaar though. She had 53 kills and .385 and .409 hitting percentages in the pair of games on Saturday.

“Jen and Rena [Widboom] did a phenomenal job of gutting it out for 13 games this weekend,” coach Ray Gooden said. “They are really working hard and for them to do that and to come out with such positive numbers is great.

“The team is starting to realize that they’re playing for them more and that helps our chemistry which also helps our whole team dynamic and it takes pressure off each individual.”

VonderHaar tied her career-high in kills for a five-game match against St. Louis on Saturday with 22. She also tied her previous record of 21 earlier on Saturday against Mississippi State.

Despite being named MVP of the tournament, the senior middle blocker didn’t want to take all the credit for her performance.

“We couldn’t have done it without the rest of our team,” VonderHaar said. “We had awesome passing and setting this weekend all over.”