Box Score

CHARLESTON, S.C. – In a rematch of the 2013 CAA championship match, College of Charleston came out victorious against the Northeastern women's volleyball team, topping the Huskies 3-1 (22-25, 25-17, 25-21, 26-24) on Saturday night.
 
Freshman middle blocker Taylor Reiter led Northeastern with 12 kills and a .276 hitting percentage, while teammate Brigitte Burcescu posted double-digit kills (11) for the third time in her last four matches.
 
Senior libero Natalia Skiba collected a match-high 21 digs as well as two aces as a member of the Huskies' back row. Defensive specialist Claire Manhard also had 17 digs and an ace, and Ashlee Asada added 12 digs to her season total.
 
Setter Kristen Walding netted another 30-assist match with 32 on the night, while Jamie Bredahl finished the match with nine digs and seven kills.
 
Charleston (13-8, 5-1 CAA) had fallen out of first-place after losing to CAA-unbeaten Hofstra on Friday night, and Northeastern (8-11, 1-5 CAA) was determined to hand the Cougars back-to-back defeats. Sloane White led Charleston with 13 kills and a .250 hitting percentage, while Grace Rebarchak tallied 11 kills and hit for .308.
 
Leading 4-3 in the first set, Charleston's Cara Howley threw down a kill that sparked a streak of four unanswered points for the Cougars, giving them an 8-3 advantage. After Burcescu slammed home a kill from Walding, Charleston scored three more points, making Husky coach Ken Nichols use one of his two timeouts, down 11-4.
 
However, Northeastern showed resilience, and steadily chipped away at the Cougars' lead. Down 17-11, Megan Kehoe landed an ace that was followed two points later by a kill from Bredahl, and soon the Huskies had scored seven out of eight points to take a 19-18 first set lead.
 
Charleston slid in front 21-20 off back-to-back kills by Melissa Morello and Krissy Mumey, but the Huskies scored five out of the last six points and closed the set on a 14-5 run to win the first, 25-22.
 
Alexa Armstrong put Northeastern up 5-4 in the second set by blocking Howley's attack above the net, but Charleston found a rhythm and connected on five straight points to lead 9-5. A kill by Burcescu interrupted the Cougars' streak at 9-6, but Charleston continued to score nine out of the next eleven points to take command of the second set, 18-8.
 
Trailing 21-10, the Huskies scored three straight to cut the gap to eight at 21-13, and the team saved three set points before surrendering the second set, 25-17.
 
Northeastern could not have asked for a better start to the third set, forcing a Charleston timeout after scoring the first five points. The two teams alternated three-point runs, until Northeastern tagged four in a row to lead 14-8, and make Charleston head coach Jason Kepner burn his final timeout of the set.
 
However, the refocused Cougars began to fire on all cylinders, and orchestrated a 13-2 run that shifted the momentum away from the Huskies in the third set. Northeastern would cut the lead to just two at 21-19 thanks to three straight points, but Charleston answered with a three-point run of its own, and won the third set, 25-21.
 
Leading two sets to one, Charleston erased a 6-3 NU lead in the fourth set with another dominating 13-2 run that saw the Cougars go up 16-8. Down but not out, the Huskies heated up as Reiter notched two kills and a block to bring the Huskies to within six at 19-13.
 
Charleston would blank of three straight attacks that pulled Northeastern back, down 20-17, and kills by Bredahl, Burcescu, and Walding caused the Cougars to call timeout, up 23-22. The Huskies saved two match points on Charleston errors, but White sealed the match for the Cougars with two agressive kills to win the fourth 26-24.
 
Northeastern travels to Buies Creek, N.C. on Sunday, Oct. 12 at 2 p.m. to battle the Fighting Camels of Campbell.