Box Score

The Northeastern women's volleyball team won its second game of the New England Challenge on Saturday, beating Harvard 3-0 (25-17, 25-21, 25-17) at Solomon Court.

The Huskies (10-3, 0-0 CAA) reached ten nonconference wins for the fourth straight season with the win. NU's balanced attack saw no player reach double-digit kills, which had not happened yet this season. Junior Janelle Tucker and senior Nicole Bishop, co-captains of the Huskies, tied for the team lead with nine kills apiece. Junior Ina Kamenova led Northeastern in assists for the ninth time this season, with 21. Sophomore Natalia Skiba, who has had at least 15 digs in every game this season, had 19 in today's contest.

NU had 49 kills to Harvard's 27, and the Huskies also led in assists, 42-25, and digs, 49-35. The Crimson had six team blocks to Northeastern's two. NU also had a big advantage in attack percentage, at .283 to Harvard's .122.

The Crimson (2-6, 0-0 Ivy) were led by freshman Kathleen Wallace's seven kills, and she also contributed five digs. Senior Beth Kinsella had a team-high 16 assists and Harvard had 10 of their 11 players in today's game record a dig. Senior Taylor Docter's seven digs led the team.

The Huskies prevailed 25-17 in a sloppy first set, with the teams combining for 15 errors and bad sets. After dropping the first two points of the match, kills by sophomore Jillian Briner and junior Kelly Bacon, followed by three straight Crimson errors gave NU a lead that it held until the end of the set. Northeastern closed out the set the same way they got their first point of the day– a Briner kill assisted by Kamenova.

In the first set, NU was paced by four kills apiece from Tucker and junior Kelly Bacon. As a team, the Huskies had an impressive .364 attack percentage in the opening frame. Kamenova led the team with six assists in the set, and Briner contributed five of her own. Skiba had five digs in the first set, which put her over 250 digs for the season in the team's thirteenth game.

Northeastern jumped out to a 17-7 lead to start the second set, getting four kills on five attacks from senior Jasmine Marta. Three of those kills came in a row, when Marta turned a 9-6 NU lead into a 12-6 advantage. Harvard came out of a timeout to go on a 8-1 run that brought them within three, at 18-15. During that run, only two of the Crimson's eight points came on kills, as the Huskies had as many attacking errors during that run as they did in the entire first set, with four. Harvard was never able to catch up to Northeastern who prevailed, 25-21, after Briner closed out the set for the second straight time.

Briner also chipped in eight assists in the set, while Kamenova contributed seven helpers. Junior Nichole Kurz and Marta led the Huskies with four kills each in the frame, and Skiba recorded eight more digs. The Huskies out-killed the Crimson in the set, 18-6.

Harvard took the first two points of the third set, but then Northeastern went on a 7-0 run thanks to three Bacon kills. Later in the set, as the Crimson pulled within four at 13-9, the Huskies took seven straight points for the second time in the set, to lead 20-9. Harvard chipped at the lead, but NU held on to take the third frame 25-17.

Bacon and Tucker each had four kills in the final frame to lead Northeastern. Kamenova had a team-high eight assists, and she tied Skiba for the team lead in third-set digs with six. Harvard's Kinsella doubled her assist output from the first two sets, adding eight digs in the third.

The Huskies return to action tonight at Solomon Court as they host Connecticut at 7 p.m. Fans who cannot make it to the game can watch streaming video and get live stats at GoNU.com/GoNUxstream.

Connect with Northeastern athletics and Northeastern volleyball on Facebook and Twitter to receive scores and information, interact with fellow fans, access photos and videos, and receive exclusive promotional and ticket offers.

Northeastern Athletics: @GoNUathletics | facebook.com/GoNUathletics
Northeastern Volleyball: @GoNUwvolleyball | facebook.com/GoNUvolleyball