Box score

The Northeastern volleyball team ended its regular season with a 3-1 win at UNCW on Sunday, Nov. 13. The Huskies close out the regular season with a 21-5 (11-3 CAA) record and clinched the No. 2 seed in next weekend's CAA tournament.

Northeastern improved to 12-0 in the all-time series with UNCW with today's win. Set scores were 25-12, 23-25, 25-23, 25-18.

Sophomore Kelly Bacon led a balanced Northeastern attack with a match-high 18 kills, while adding six digs and a service ace Junior Nicole Bishop was second on the team with seven kills and added four blocks. Freshman Alexa Armstrong and junior Jasmine Marta each tallied six kills.

Rookie Jillian Briner and sophomores Janelle Tucker and Nichole Kurz recorded five kills apiece. Briner added 16 assists, two digs and two blocks to her effort while Tucker notched nine digs and a service ace. Kurz added four blocks and two digs.

Sophomore Kat Gueth earned the first start of her career and ended with four kills and a dig while classmate Ina Kamenova dished out a team-high 32 assists. Rookie libero Natalia Skiba led the Huskies in digs for the 26th time this season with 20.

Gueth began the scoring for the Huskies with a kill after the first serve to spark a 4-1 Northeastern run to open the first set. UNCW battled right back wwith a 4-0 run of its own to take a 5-4 lead following a Huskies' attacking error.Northeastern regained the lead with a kill from Bacon followed by two kills from Bishop and a UNCW error.

The Seahawks pulled within two points, 10-8, following a pair of Northeastern errors but it would be the closest UNCW would be to Northeastern for the rest of the set. The Huskies received a strong offensive showing with kills from Bacon, Bishop and Kurz to distance themselves from the Seahawks and sail to a 25-12 victory.

The second set was a stalmate from the start, as neither team was able to mount any sort of run. The Seahawks began to pull away from an 18-18 knot with a kill from Jennifer Mallard and the assistance of two Northeastern errors.The Huskies cinched it back up at 22-22 with kills from Gueth and Bacon and a Brianna Hollis service ace but a slam from Christi Laite gave the Seahawks the 23-22 advantage. Bacon tied it again at 23-23 but two final kills from UNCW gave the Seahawks a 25-23 win in the second set.

Northeastern never trailed in the third set and appeared to be on its way to an easy win after 17-8 lead but five unanswered points from the Seahawks later in the match brought UNCW within three at 18-15. The Huskies allowed the Seahawks to keep it close and eventually UNCW tied it at 23-23 to force the Huskies to call for a timeout. The break proved to be beneficial for Northeastern as Bishop and Bacon notched the final two kills to deliver a 25-23 win for the Huskies.

UNCW took the early lead in the fourth set but Northeastern came from behind with a 6-0 run to take a 10-6 advantage and a lead that the Huskies never relinquished. The Seahawks threatened on several occasions, but were never able to come within two points of Northeastern as the Huskies won the set 25-18 to win the match.

Northeastern earns the second seed in the six-team CAA tournament, as the Huskies ended the season with an 11-3 record in CAA play. Delaware also concluded the 2011 campaign with an 11-3 mark in the conference but owns the advantage over the Huskies in head-to-head competition, thus giving the Blue Hens the No. 1 seed and the chance to host the tournament. Northeastern receives a first-round bye and will begin its quest to earning the Huskies' first CAA tournament championship on Saturday, Nov. 19. Check back to GoNU.com for further details about the CAA tournament.