Volleyball swept by WMU Broncos
Volleyball on a wood court floor.
March 17, 2021
DeKALB — The women’s volleyball team faced off against the Western Michigan University Broncos Tuesday for another Mid-American Conference matchup. For the Huskies, it resulted in a second straight loss, their third in the last four games.
The team lost in straight sets to the Broncos, which was a hard-fought game up until the final set when the Broncos dominated on offense and defense. The first set was a crushing one for the Huskies, who at one point were down 16-8.
NIU responded with a run of its own thanks to the play of senior middleback Kennedy Wallace, who was the Huskies’ best player on the court. She led the team’s comeback attempt, getting four kills and adding in three blocks to tie the game at 20.
However, the comeback attempt would come up short as the Broncos’ attackers were not going to let the set slip away. The three outside hitters on the Broncos junior Meredith Phillips, senior Rachel Bontrager and sophomore Maggie King all ended up recording kills to score the final five points needed, icing the set for the Broncos with a final score of 25-23.
The second set was a back-and-forth battle throughout, with the Huskies staying within two points of the Broncos. It was Phillips who really took over this set, recording eight kills in the entire set. The Huskie offense could not keep up though, losing 25-20.
NIU’s offensive struggles continued into the third set. The Huskies hit a lowly 11% of their kills in the final set, failing to reach double digits in this one. On the other side of the net, the Broncos played their most efficient set, hitting on 48% of their kill attempts.
This led to a blowout loss in the third with the Huskies losing by a final score of 25-14, completing the sweep for the Broncos. With the loss the team now drops to a record of 7-10, dropping the team to fifth in the West Division with only five games remaining on the season.
NIU returns to the court 4 p.m. Friday traveling to Kent, Ohio, to take on the Kent State University Golden Flashes.
