DeKALB – Dominant defense was the name of the game for NIU on Saturday as the Huskies emerged victorious in their final match of Homecoming weekend.

NIU volleyball (13-4, 6-1 MAC) trounced the Miami University RedHawks (6-11, 1-5 MAC) in straight sets at Victor E. Court. The Huskies’ win followed up their 3-1 victory on Friday night to wrap up NIU’s weekend home stand.

“It was a great team win,” sophomore middle blocker Charli Atiemo said. “We were coming off a great one yesterday (Friday). Today’s (Saturday) focus was just to play our game, do what we need to do to be successful, and we did that really well.”

Defending home court

NIU has won its last seven home matches. The team’s most recent – and only – home game loss this season dates back to the opening day of the regular season at the Huskie Invitational on Aug. 26. when South Dakota State University delivered a 3-0 loss to the Huskies.

The Huskies have been supported in their success this season with plenty of home court advantage. Eight of NIU’s 13 wins have come at Victor E. Court. The team is 2-4 in away matches, most recently dropping a match to the University at Buffalo Bulls on Oct. 1.

Little rest on either side

NIU had a short turnaround going into Saturday’s match. The Huskies took down the Bowling Green in four sets the evening prior. NIU boasted a conference-leading 12-4 record, including a 5-1 record against MAC foes.

The RedHawks entered the match looking to rebound from their shutout loss to Western Michigan University on Friday.

Miami meets a keyed-up Huskie defense

The Huskies contained the RedHawks to a .062 hitting percentage. Serving and blocking were crucial to NIU’s defensive success.

Head coach Ray Gooden said the serving aided the blocks, which helped the overall defense.

“We had good serving runs tonight, and it led to some really good blocking opportunities,” Gooden said. “If we didn’t block it, we did a good job playing defense, especially later on.”

Gooden added that the defense became more scrappy from the late stages of the first set through the end of the match. NIU held the RedHawks to a hitting percentage as low as .010 in the late stages of the final set.

Spreading the love

Three NIU players tied for a game-high 13.5 points. Senior outside hitter Katie Jablonski led all players with 11 kills. Junior right side hitter Emily Dykes had 10 kills. Atiemo trailed Dykes by one, logging nine kills and a team-high nine blocks.

“We try to find a balance,” Gooden said. “We’ve seen different people come up and do some pretty good things.”

Sophomore libero Francesca Bertucci had 20 digs in the match. NIU’s front row also logged 15 blocks in the match. Combined with their 14 blocks from Friday, the Huskies totaled 29 blocks in seven sets.

“Franki (Bertucci) is just a machine in the background,” Jablonski said. “Our middles do such a good job setting up the block, and then Franki just plays so well behind the block. It just makes it easy.”

Fighting for something bigger

Atiemo played this match with someone important on her mind. Her grandfather, Delmer Smith, was diagnosed with B-cell lymphoma in December 2019. NIU celebrated its Cancer Awareness Night on Saturday.

“He was in my head today,” Atiemo said.

The Huskies also honored two family members of an NIU alumni in an Instagram post prior to the match. Tracy and Sharol Hegna, the mother and grandmother of former NIU volleyball player Samantha Juarez, were both diagnosed with breast cancer within the past year. NIU donned pink accents on its uniforms to honor the individuals.

Huskies get it done in three

Miami claimed the match’s first point before NIU climbed out to a lead. The Huskies entered the media timeout with a slight edge, 15-13. The set got competitive as the teams tied at 18, 19 and 21.

NIU put together a pair of scores after a 19-19 tie to force Miami to call a timeout. A RedHawk service error kicked off NIU’s game-ending scoring run. Atiemo teamed up with Mihacevich for a combo block. Atiemo followed that up with back-to-back kills to win the set for NIU, 25-21.

Set No. 2 began nearly the same as the first. The RedHawks scored first and were quickly surpassed by the home team. Miami kept a narrow gap as it stayed down 12-10. NIU took off on a 12-2 run to reach a 24-12 lead by set point. Dykes clinched the set with a kill on set point.

Saturday’s third and final set started out with a 5-5 tie. NIU dashed on a 6-1 run to take their lead to 11-6. The Huskies maintained the margin until they reached an 18-12 lead. The RedHawks scored four straight.

A string of four Miami scores brought the set within a point as NIU led 22-21. A solo block by junior middle blocker Lockwood set the Huskies up for match point. The RedHawks scored the next two points to potentially take the set past 25. Jablonski’s game-winning kill spelled the end for Miami as NIU took the set, 25-23, and the match, 3-0.

NIU’s win improves their overall record to 13-4 and give them their fifth win of the conference slate. Miami heads back to Oxford, Ohio, with its third straight loss. Both teams maintain their positions in the conference standings. NIU leads the MAC while Miami is second-to-last in the East division.

What’s next

The next challenge on NIU’s schedule involves a weekend matchup with the reigning Mid-American Conference champions. The Huskies will host the Ball State University Cardinals (12-6, 4-2 MAC) on Friday and Saturday at Victor E. Court for a two-game series.

The first match is scheduled to start at 6 p.m. Friday. It will be available on NIU All-Access. Live statistics can be tracked on SIDEARM Sports.