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The NIU volleyball team was full of energy on Friday night as it swept Toledo, but then came back a night later looking lifeless while getting swept by Ohio.
NIU (12-12 overall, 5-7 MAC) took advantage of a struggling Rocket team en route to a 30-27, 30-22 and 30-24 victory.
"We definitely played our style of volleyball," outside hitter Amanda Newlin said of Friday’s victory. "We made them have to play with us instead of us having to play with them and that’s a huge thing."
Errors contributed to the Huskies’ demise on Saturday -- they committed 47 errors, 15 more than the previous night.
Friday night, the Huskies got a much needed conference win and middle blocker Rena Widboom recorded kill No. 1,000, joining teammates Tenisha Wilkins and Jen VonderHaar.
"It’s nice. I really didn’t know I was in the running for it," Widboom said. "It’s nice, but it’s not the important thing, the important thing is the win."
She also led the team with 13 kills and five block assists. Tera Lobdell tallied 12 kills and hit a team-high .320.
The player of the game though was Newlin.
Newlin had eight kills, 14 digs, a block solo and seven block assists.
"We did what we needed to do to get a win tonight," coach Ray Gooden said. "Newlin had a fantastic match, did a great job. A lot of people made great contributions. Rena did a solid job tonight and so did Tera."
Saturday, prior to the Ohio match, Widboom was awarded the game ball during a short ceremony.
On Saturday, NIU fell behind early and never was able to recover. Ohio jumped out to a 8-2 lead and NIU couldn’t get any closer than two points.
Ohio outside hitter Lindsay Judice, the Bobcats’ leader in kills per game (3.19), was carried off the court midway through the first game after injuring her left ankle.
Newlin wasn’t able to repeat her performance compiling only two kills and a -.118 hitting percentage. Lobdell was the only Huskie in double digits for kills with 14.
The Huskies hit .093 as a team and no Huskie starter had a hitting percentage over .250.
"I think a lot of girls on our team right now need something to happen to spark them," Gooden said.
