Box Score

HARRISONBURG, Va. – Despite holding James Madison to a .170 match hitting percentage, the Northeastern women's volleyball team had difficulty navigating the Dukes' talented front wall of blockers, coming up short 3-0 (25-19, 25-16, 25-22) in the Huskies' return to CAA action.
 
Brigitte Burcescu led the way for the Huskies with 13 kills, three digs, and one block, while teammate Alexa Armstrong netted seven kills to go along with three blocks. The Huskies played the second and third sets without sophomore hitter Jamie Bredahl, who left the match after an awkward landing following a block attempt.
 
Freshman setter Kristen Walding earned her second consecutive double-double, finishing the match with 29 assists and 11 digs. Ava Cramp hit for .250 on the night, sporting five kills on 16 attacks for the Huskies.
 
Northeastern (9-12, 1-6 CAA) saw great defensive performances from Natalia Skiba and Claire Manhard. Skiba tallied 20 or more digs for the 17th time this season, while Manhard was second on the team with 14 digs in the match.
 
James Madison (11-9, 3-4 CAA) out-blocked the Huskies 10.0-3.0. The seven-block difference is the largest blocking margin Northeastern has faced all season.
 
Janey Goodman led the Dukes with 13 kills, while Meghan Niski collected 14 digs and 10 kills. Lizzy Briones and Conner Beightol each had five blocks in the match.
 
Northeastern responded to two straight kills by Niski and Martha Stewart with two straight points of its own to lead 5-4 in the first set, but James Madison landed three kills in a row to retake the lead at 7-5. After two JMU attacking errors brought the Huskies to within one at 10-9, the Dukes went on a four-point run that opened a 14-9 edge, making Northeastern head coach Ken Nichols use one of his two timeouts.
 
The Huskies started to execute offensively following the timeout, and back-to-back kills by Cramp cut the JMU lead to 15-13. Down 19-14, Walding found Armstrong twice for two kills that sandwiched a four-point run for Northeastern, and made the Dukes burn a timeout, up only 19-18. However, the refocused James Madison squad rattled off four straight points out of the break, and won the set three points later, 25-19.
 
Trailing 3-2 in the second set, Northeastern appeared to find its offensive rhythm when Burcescu threw down a kill and Asada landed an ace to claim a 5-3 lead for the Huskies. But James Madison began to heat up as the Dukes scored eight of the next nine points to build an 11-6 advantage.
 
Northeastern would cut the deficit to three at 12-9, and four at 16-12, but JMU extended its command of the second set with a seven-point run en route to a 25-16 win, and 2-0 lead in the match.
 
The Huskies remained level with James Madison for most of the first half of the third set. Burcescu slammed a kill to tie the set at 4-4, and a kill by Reiter later made it 9-8 JMU. The Dukes managed to string together six of the next seven points to go up 15-9, but the run was countered by the Huskies who scored five out of six points to bring the set back within two at 16-14.
 
In a set filled with runs, James Madison pulled ahead 20-15 on kills by three different attackers, and arrived at match point leading 24-18. Up against a wall, the Huskies were quick to rally and save four straight match points, until a kill by Niski from Sarah Patterson sealed the victory for the Dukes, 25-22 in the third set.
 
Northeastern will remain in Virginia for its next match on Saturday, Oct. 18 against William and Mary at 7 p.m.