Box Score   |  Postgame comments (Ken Nichols - YouTube.com)  |  Season Stats

The Northeastern volleyball team smothered New Hampshire on its home court on Tuesday night, running away with a 3-0 triumph (25-20, 25-23, 25-16) to improve to a perfect 4-0 on the season.

Junior Kelly Bacon paced the Huskies for the second consecutive match offensively, hammering down 12 kills and hitting .333 on the night. Sophomores Jillian Briner and Ava Cramp teamed up for eight kills apiece while second-year middle hitter Alexa Armstrong posted her strongest outing of the season with six kills.

Sophomore libero Natalia Skiba guided NU defensively for the fourth-straight tilt, leading the Huskies with 15 digs. The Westmont, Ill., native also chipped in a match-high two services aces. Senior captain Nicole Bishop logged a game-best three and a half blocks guarding the middle.

The Huskies never trailed in the first set thanks to a 6-0 buffer to initiate the match. Bacon tossed down two kills along with a Skiba ace to fire up Northeastern in the early goings. The Wildcats battled back and made it a two-point contests, 7-5, after coercing NU into a couple hitting errors.

Cramp stepped up and recorded her first two kills of the frame before junior Janelle Tucker burned the left side with a strong swat to extend Northeastern's lead back to five, 12-7. The teams would battle back and forth and New Hampshire cut it to a pair of points late in the frame, but Northeastern's attack was too strong as the Huskies came away with the first set victory, 25-20.

New Hampshire claimed its first lead of the match in the second set, 3-1, but the advantage did not last long after the Huskies sewed it back up with consecutive points, 3-3.

Skiba spiked a kill to the left corner of the court and triggered a 6-2 run in favor of Northeastern. Bacon and Cramp teamed up from the outside and nudged NU's lead out to four, 11-7.

The Huskies allowed New Hampshire to creep within two points, but swats from all over the court kept the Huskies ahead the duration of the second set.  Bacon, Briner and Armstrong all chipped in with the attack to force New Hampshire to call timeout after Northeastern built a 19-13 second stanza lead.

Following the timeout, the Wildcats cut into the lead towards the end of the set and turned it into a one-point nailbiter, 24-23, but Briner bounced a swing off both UNH middle blockers and the ball hit the floor to give Northeastern the 25-23 win.

The third set started in a 2-2 deadlock, but a 6-1 run fueled by precise swinging from junior Hanna Gibeau pushed New Hampshire into a timeout with Northeastern leading, 8-3, in the third set. UNH clawed to within two, 11-9, but a Bacon and Cramp smash and some unforced UNH errors gave Northeastern the advantage the remainder of the way.

Briner's ace made New Hampshire hail timeout, 15-9, and the Huskies clamped down to the win. NU scampered out to a nine-point lead and Briner's kill to the right corner polished off the Wildcats, 25-15, for the victory.

After Tuesday's victory in Durham, N.H., Northeastern will turn its attention to the defending national champions, the UCLA Bruins on Friday night at the UCSB Invitational. The match will start at 10 p.m. (EST). On Saturday, the Huskies continue tournament play against host UCSB and Idaho at 2 p.m. and 8 p.m., respectively, on Saturday night.

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