Box Score
Read a feature on Northeastern volleyball alums (Britney Brown and Whitney Turner)
HARRISONBURG, Va. - The Northeastern volleyball team (19-6, 8-3 CAA) ran into a roadblock on Friday night at James Madison (12-14, 5-6 CAA), losing in straight sets, 3-0 (25-19, 25-23, 25-20). The 3-0 loss marks just the second time the Huskies have been swept in Colonial Athletic Association play.
Despite
Kelly Bacon's third straight double-double, ninth of the season, via 11 kills and 15 digs, Northeastern was suppressed by the Dukes all night. Sophomore setter
Jillian Briner totaled seven kills alongside 11 digs while senior captain
Nicole Bishop swatted a team-best .263 (six kills on 10 swings). Sophomore libero Natalia SKiba anchored NU's defense once again, digging out 19 balls.
James Madison's Meghan Niski tallied a match-high 17 kills and hit for .361 followed by Danielle Erb's 13 kills. Erb also led JMU's defense with 18 digs.
Bacon started all three sets with a kill, and in the first frame, her swing triggered a 6-1 Huskies' advantage. Bacon scored two kills along with Bishop's solo swing during the run, but JMU ran off three-straight points to close the gap, 6-4. Junior captain
Janelle Tucker made it a three-point set after she logged one of her three kills to extend NU's lead, 8-5, but the Dukes won five of the next seven points to tie it up, 10-10.
Both teams battled down to a 17-17 count, but after a sophomore
Hanna Gibeau attacking error, James Madison took advantage of the first set and rattled off the next five points. After junior
Nichole Kurz sent another attack wayward, head coach
Ken Nichols hailed for timeout down, 22-17. Unfortunately, the breather did not slow down JMU and the Dukes claimed three of the next five volleys to win the first set, 25-19.
Bacon started Northeastern off on the right foot to initiate the second stanza, but James Madison responded with four-consecutive kills from four different attackers to set the precedent.
Northeastern hung around and eventually tied it after Niski missed a shot to push the score to 8-8. The Huskies took a two-point lead, their largest of the second set, on a MacKenzie Kleespies miss and a Tucker kill, 10-8. JMU came back and tied it up to force a back-and-forth second set until the Dukes started to pull away in the end.
After Bishop's kills made it 17-17, James Madison killed five of the next six volleys to grab hold of a 22-18 advantage. Briner and Kurz teamed up for three kills to tie it up late, 23-23, but Briner and Bacon attacking errors handed the second set to James Madison, 25-23.
Northeastern looked to make a run at the third set early after Bacon's kill made it 10-8, but the Huskies' defense could not contain JMU's vicious attack. Niski registered her fifth kill of the set to recapture the lead, 13-12, and the Huskies could not recover. Despite a late one-point lead, 18-17, James Madison ran off eight of the last 10 points to cap the sweep in a third-set triumph, 25-20.
Northeastern closes the regular season tomorrow night at George Mason starting at 6 p.m.
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