Box Score   |  Season Statistics

Postgame comments (Head coach Ken Nichols)

The Northeastern women's volleyball team continued its hot start to the season by beating defending Northeast Conference champions Sacred Heart, 3-1 (25-21, 22-25, 25-18, 25-16), to capture its second-consecutive Beanpot Classic Tournament.

The Huskies (3-0, 0-0 CAA) went undefeated in this year's Beanpot Classic, while Alabama went 2-1, Sacred Heart 1-2 and Holy Cross 0-3. NU got 16 kills from junior Kelly Bacon (who also had 10 digs) and 14 kills from junior Nichole Kurz. Third-year outside hitter Janelle Tucker had a double-double with 10 kills and 12 digs.

The Pioneers (1-2, 0-0 NEC) were led by sophomore Alissa Young, who matched the 26 kills she had in her two previous games combined. Sophomore Alisa Mesa accounted for 45 of Sacred Heart's 55 assists in the game and freshman Karly Shockey had 13 kills.

The two teams combined for a whopping 141 digs in the game, with seven different players in double figures in the category. Huskies sophomore Natalia Skiba had 30 digs, giving the libero 73 digs over the course of the tournament. Northeastern dominated in blocks, registering 13 team blocks to Sacred Heart's one.

The Pioneers jumped out to a 10-3 lead in the opening frame thanks to three Shockey kills and four Northeastern attacking errors. The Huskies then went on a 9-1 run to take the lead 12-11. Sacred Heart never reclaimed the lead in the frame and Northeastern won the first set, 25-21.

The Huskies were paced in the opening set by getting four kills from Kurz and three kills apiece from sophomore Jillian Briner, senior Nicole Bishop and sophomore Ava Cramp. Skiba and Tucker each had seven digs, while Briner and junior Ina Kamenova both notched six assists. Seven different Pioneers had at least one dig in the set, and Young paced them with six kills. Mesa did most of the setting for Sacred Heart, with nine assists.

The second set started where the first left off, with the two teams finding themselves tied early at 4-4. A pair of Bacon kills followed by a Sacred Heart attacking error gave NU a 7-4 lead, but the Pioneers countered with four straight points of their own to lead 8-7. The sides went back-and-forth, with neither team leading by more than three at any point during the set, and nine different ties occurred. Sacred Heart eventually prevailed, 25-22.

The Pioneers were able to tie up the match thanks to seven more kills by Young and 15 assists from Mesa in the second set. After recording 22 team digs in the first set, Sacred Heart was able to come up with 20 more in the second. Bacon gave NU seven kills in the frame while Tucker added four.

In the third stanza, the teams were tied at 5-5 before junior Megan Kehoe recorded back-to-back service aces, and Northeastern went on a 7-1 run to take a 12-6 lead. The Pioneers cut away at the Huskies' lead, getting within one three times. Once the score was 17-16 NU, the Huskies went on a 6-0 run and held on for a 25-18 set victory, closed out by Bacon's thirteenth kill of the game.

Northeastern was busy defensively in the third set, with four team blocks and 10 more digs from Skiba. Kamenova recorded an additional nine assists, and Bacon had five more kills.

The fourth set opened closely, as the previous two sets had. Sacred Heart and Northeastern were tied at 8-8 before Kurz's tenth and eleventh kills of the game gave the Huskies a 10-8 advantage. Kurz would end up with five kills in the set, helping Northeastern clinch the set, 25-16, and the game, 3-1.

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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The Huskies return to action on Tuesday night, as they head up to Durham, N.H. to take on the UNH Wildcats at 7 p.m.

Beanpot Classic All-Tournament Team:
Megan Lynch - Holy Cross
Alissa Young - Sacred Heart
Andrea McQuaid - Alabama
Sierra Wilson - Alabama
Nichole Kurz - Northeastern
Natalia Skiba - Northeastern
MVP: Natalia Skiba -  Northeastern