Box Score

The Northeastern women's volleyball team won its 2012 home opener in straight sets over Holy Cross on Saturday afternoon at Solomon Court (25-16, 25-14, 25-18) in the Huskies second game of the Beanpot Classic. Last night in the season opener, Northeastern outlasted Alabama in a five-set marathon at Holy Cross (25-17, 18-25, 26-24, 28-30, 15-13) to build the early season momentum.

The Huskies (2-0, 0-0 CAA) were led by 10 kills apiece from sophomore Jillian Briner (who also had 17 assists) and senior Nicole Bishop. Sophomore Natalia Skiba had 18 digs and junior Ina Kamenova recorded 21 assists. NU notched ten service aces in the game from four different players, led by junior Kelly Bacon with four. Northeastern had five players attempt 16 or more attacks, led by Kelly Bacon's 29 swings.

The Crusaders (0-3, 0-0 Patriot League) were led by sophomore Alica Swearingen's six kills, and senior Elizabeth Watters' nine digs. Sophomore Hannah Grace Stokes added nine assists. Senior Megan Lynch led all players on both sides with 43 attacks.

NU led Holy Cross in kills (43-15), assists (40-13), service aces (10-1) and digs (49-36). The Crusaders outblocked the Huskies, 8-4. Northeastern had 25 attacking errors, while Holy Cross had 15.

Northeastern took the opening set, 25-16. The Huskies jumped out to an 8-2 lead behind kills from four different players and two service aces from Bacon. Briner and Bacon had four kills each, and Briner also had six assists. Skiba contributed eight digs, while Kamenova and Bacon had five digs of their own.

In the second set, the Huskies recorded 15 kills from six different players, winning 25-14. Kamenova had 11 assists in the set, and Skiba added seven digs. The Huskies held a two-point lead at 7-5, before back-to-back Bishop kills started a 5-0 run that the Crusaders were unable to recover from. The set was clinched by a shared block from Bishop and sophomore Ava Cramp.

The third and final frame started close, with Holy Cross within one at 11-10, before Northeastern pulled away and took the set 25-18. Seven different players contributed to the Huskies' 14 kills, with three apiece from Bishop, Tucker and Bacon. Briner had eight assists and shared two blocks. A Crusaders' attacking error clinched the game for the Huskies on their first match point.

Northeastern will close out the Beanpot Classic later tonight, when they take on the defending Northeast Conference Champion Sacred Heart Pioneers (1-0, 0-0 NEC) at 7 p.m. at Solomon Court.

A replay of this game is available at GoNU.com/xstream. GoNUxstream is free to all viewers and features live and on-demand video and audio broadcasts, as well as live game stats, and is accessible on PC and Mac computers, as well as on iPhones, iPads and Android phones.

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