Box Score
BOSTON — The Northeastern volleyball team went the distance with Southern Methodist on Saturday night at Peterson Gym, but the Huskies run was not enough as SMU held on for a 3-2 victory (21-25, 25-20, 24-26, 25-19, 12-15) to close out the third tournament of the season. With the loss, the Huskies finish 1-2 in the tournament and move to 4-6 on the season.
Senior
Kelly Bacon accumulated a double-double with a team-high 17 kills along side 14 digs and three service aces.
Nichole Kurz and
Janelle Tucker also contributed to the Huskies' attack with 13 and 12 swings, respectively.
Jamie Bredahl threw up a team-high 25 assists while her counterpart,
Ina Kamenova tallied 20 assists and five digs.
Natalia Skiba anchored the defensive with a match-high 21 digs and chipped in a pair of aces and four assists.
SMU's Caroline Young led the team's offense after recording a match-high 20 kills paired with 13 digs.
Northeastern got a quick jump on the board after three SMU errors gave the Huskies a 3-0 start. The Mustangs posted three more errors opposite of a trio of NU kills to give Northeastern a 9-3 advantage. SMU utilized its first timeout of the frame and came out of the huddle immediately forcing a Northeastern offensive error.
Southern Methodist took advantage of three more Northeastern offensive errors and capped the streak with an ace to even the score, 10-10. NU and SMU exchanged kills for the next nine rallies, but the Mustangs came out ahead after consecutive errors in the Huskies' column. Tied at 16-16, NU's head coach
Ken Nichols called for a break, but the timeout proved to be ineffective when SMU used a 3-0 run to record three extra insurance points.
Northeastern kicked off an offensive duel with a Tucker kill, but SMU closed out the contest with a couple of swings from the outside to end the first set, 25-21.
Although Northeastern led in the early goings of the second set, Southern Methodist did not back down and trailed closely behind until tying up the contest at the 12 mark. The Huskies utilized a five-point run, topped by a set of Bacon aces, to take a 16-12 lead and forcing SMU to call for a timeout.
Three attacks in four exchanges extended the Huskies cushion to 19-14. Northeastern maintained at least a four-point lead for the remainder of the set. The Mustangs attempted to close the gap with kills from Cailin Bula and Young, but efforts fell short as Northeastern evened the contest with a 25-20 second-set victory.
The Mustangs took control early in the third set, building a 9-7 lead thanks to four kills and a series of Northeastern errors. The Huskies grabbed the next two points with kills from Gibeau and Tucker to lock it up, 10-10. The two squads traded points to the 16-16 mark, but Southern Methodist ran off an 8-4 string to force NU into a timeout as the Huskies trailed, 22-19.
Northeastern made an effort to close the gap with a Bredahl kill and forcing an error on the Mustangs' attack, but SMU threw down a pair of kills to round out the third set, 26-24.
Both teams showcased a strong offensive performance early in the fourth set, but SMU took control after a trio of kills and a Bacon error to prompt Northeastern to take its first timeout, trailing 14-12. The Huskies tied the contest at the 15, 16 and 17 marks, but broke off after a pair of Gibeau kills bookended two Southern Methodist errors. A red-hot Gibeau tossed down two more swings to give NU a 23-19 advantage. Back-to-back errors at the Mustangs' net capped off the fourth stanza, keeping the Huskies alive with a 25-19 triumph.
The Huskies posted a 5-3 lead out of the chute after pressuring SMU's attack to put up a couple of errors. The Mustangs quickly responded with three consecutive swats to take a 6-5 lead. Although Northeastern tied the score three more times throughout the set, SMU held on to claim a 15-12 win in the deciding set for a 3-2 victory.
Northeastern puts its 20-game home court winning streak on the line when they return to Cabot Center to kick off a five-game home stand with a contest against Boston College on Sept. 20 at 7 p.m.
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