Box Score

WILLIAMSBURG, Va. – Despite throwing down 60 kills for the sixth time this season, the Northeastern women's volleyball team suffered a heartbreaking defeat, 3-1 (23-25, 25-22, 25-23, 25-23), to William and Mary on Saturday night.
 
Northeastern (9-13, 1-7 CAA) has played four matches in 2014 when both teams have scored 20 or more points in each set, and the Huskies are 2-2 in those matches. Saturday's loss to William and Mary is also the closest match NU has played all season, as thee out of the four sets were decided by a margin of victory of just two points.

Freshman outside hitter Brigitte Burcescu posted 22 kills, three shy of equaling her season-high of 25 she set back on Sept. 9 against Rhode Island. Cherylain Dizon was second on the team with 14 kills, and also earned two blocks.

Kristen Walding collected 53 assists in the match, the most she has accumulated in a four-set match this year. Walding came one dig away from her third consecutive double-double, but hit for .429 with three kills and two blocks.
 
Taylor Reiter continued her first-year success with nine kills and two digs against the Tribe, and freshman hitter Carmen Costa hit for .571 as well. Together with Burcescu, Dizon, and Walding, the five first-year Huskies combined for 52 of the team's 60 kills, and 56.5 of the team's 73.5 points.
 
Senior captain Natalia Skiba netted 28 digs, bringing her 2014 total to 484 digs, and her season average to 5.68 per set.
 
William and Mary (6-17, 2-6 CAA) snapped its four-match losing skid with the win, and had two players achieve double-doubles. Stephanie Paul had 23 assists and 10 digs, while teammate Dessi Koleva had 19 digs and 15 kills.
 
Northeastern controlled the tempo early in the match, building a 4-1 lead, but the Tribe connected on five of the next six points to retake control, up 6-5. After William and Mary scooted ahead 10-9, the Huskies scored three straight points to lead 12-10, and a kill by Burcescu four points later made it 14-12, Northeastern.
 
In a set that saw 10 tie scores, William and Mary leveled the set at 18-18, but the Huskies responded by scoring five of the next seven points to lead 23-20. The Tribe cut the score to one at 23-22, but NU held on to secure the opening set, 25-23.
 
Trailing 4-3, William and Mary strung three straight points together to take a 6-4 edge early in the second set. However, Reiter was quick to throw down two kills in three points, and an ace by Megan Kehoe gave the Huskies a 9-8 advantage. After another Burcescu kill bumped the NU lead to 10-9, William and Mary went on a 7-2 scoring run to open up a four-point lead.
 
Down 21-15, Northeastern rattled off three straight points with the help of Kehoe's second ace of the match, but the deficit proved to be too large to overcome, and the Tribe cruised to a 25-22 second set victory.
 
The Huskies had difficulty slowing down the William and Mary attacking game early in the third set, as the Tribe stormed out of the gates with a 9-3 run off six kills. NU cut the lead to just three at 10-7 and 11-8, but William and Mary continued to execute, and raced out to a dominating 19-10 advantage.
 
However, the Huskies answered back with a seven-point run that brought them within two at 19-17, and soon after, Northeastern was only down by one, 22-21. NU managed to save two set points with back-to-back kills by Reiter and Burcescu, but a kill by Liz Brown gave the Tribe a 25-23 win, and a 2-1 lead in the match.
 
Behind 6-3 in the beginning of the fourth set, Northeastern rallied with a 6-1 run that saw the Huskies take back control of the set, up 9-7. William and Mary would swing back in front 12-10, but NU tied the set back at 14-14 and later at 17-17 in the midst of a four-point scoring run. However, the Tribe called a pivotal timeout trailing 19-18, and came out of the stoppage of play winning five out of the next six points. Northeastern chipped away at the lead, coming within one point twice at 23-22 and 24-23, but the Tribe outlasted the Huskies 25-23 to win the match, 3-1.
 
Northeastern will return to Cabot Center on Friday, Oct. 24 to battle Elon at 4 p.m. The Huskies defeated the Phoenix, 3-0, earlier this season in North Carolina. NU will close out the two-match home stand on Sunday, Oct. 26 with a 1 p.m. match against UNCW.