Box Score

ORLANDO, Fla. – The Northeastern women's volleyball team won its first match of the 2014 season on Friday, Aug. 29, as the Huskies came back from two games down to knock off Florida International 3-2 (18-25, 16-25, 26-24, 25-18, 15-11) in their second match of the Radisson-UCF Invitational.
 
Sophomore Jamie Bredahl had the Huskies' only double-double of the match, finishing the five-set thriller with 28 assists, 13 digs, and 8 kills. Joining Bredahl in the back court was freshman and Deer Park, Illinois native Kristen Walding who posted 21 assists of her own. The two Husky setters combined for 49 of the team's 53 assists in the match.
 
Natalia Skiba owned the defensive end for Northeastern, taking home 33 digs, eight more than what she had accumulated earlier in the day against Eastern Kentucky.
 
Freshman Brigitte Burcescu was one kill and one dig short of earning her first career double-double, but played a huge role in Northeastern's blocking game, tallying three blocks on the night. Teammate Caterina Rosander fueled the Husky attack recording nine kills on 22 attempts (.227) while also leading both teams with seven blocks.
 
Taylor Reiter had an explosive first game for NU, as the freshman from Tucson, Arizona dropped eight of her 13 attacks for kills and walked away with a .462 hitting percentage. Sophomore outside hitter Hannah Fry also made her season debut for the Huskies, throwing down eight kills on 22 attempts and picking up two blocks.
 
Lucia Castro and Martyna Gluchowicz both had double-double matches for Florida International, as Castro led the Panthers in both digs (17) and kills (16), while Gluchowicz managed 13 digs and 12 kills of her own. Sophomore Anabela Sataric led FIU with 45 assists as well.
 
Florida International came firing out of the gates in the first game, using a series of runs to steadily build an advantage over the Huskies. The Panthers broke a 3-3 tie with kills by Jennifer Ene and Lea Montavon to eventually go up 6-3, and added two more three-point runs to eventually take a 16-8 lead on Northeastern.
 
The Huskies would catch a break as Castro would blank on three consecutive attacks, bringing NU within five of FIU at 16-11 in the first. But Northeastern could not close the gap any further as the offense failed to execute late in the game, allowing FIU to capitalize on mistakes and run away with a 25-18 win and 1-0 lead in the match.
 
The second set appeared all too similar for Northeastern as FIU compiled an 8-3 run to open the game. Bredahl found Fry above the net three times before tagging two kills for herself to bring the Huskies within three at 9-6, but FIU kept the pressure turned up in the second, out-hitting NU .276-.128 and rolling to a 25-16 win.
 
The Huskies found more of an offensive rhythm in the third game, and traded points with FIU until a kill by Walding gave Northeastern its first lead in a set the entire match at 7-6. The excitement was short-lived for NU, as FIU responded with four unanswered to take a 10-7 lead right back.
 
However, the Huskies started to fire on all cylinders, rattling off three in a row thanks to an ace by Asada sandwiched between two kills by Fry. Bredahl then set Rosander and Reiter up to throw down, and NU was back on top 15-14. FIU would not go away, and threatened to put an end to the comeback after a 5-2 run put the Panthers up 21-19 and just four points away from the victory.
 
Not going down without a fight, a Dizon kill from Walding proved to be a turning point in the match as NU went on a four-point run to take a 23-21 lead, and with the help of two FIU attacking errors, the Huskies came away with the third game 26-24.
 
Sensing new life in the match, Northeastern opened the fourth set with a 9-5 advantage after three straight kills by the Husky front row forced an FIU timeout. Momentum had shifted, and the Huskies would go on to record 16 total kills with a .387 hitting percentage en route to a 25-18 fourth set win.
 
With the match tied at 2-2, FIU jumped out to early fifth set leads at 2-1 and 4-3 before a kill by Burcescu sparked a 3-0 run that gave NU a 6-4 edge. But the Panthers stepped back into the set dialing up three straight to go up 7-6, and a block by Castro and Ene would later give FIU a 10-9 lead.
 
Determined to not let the comeback efforts go for naught, Walding found Dizon twice to re-take the lead, and the Huskies never looked back, closing out the fifth set and the match on a 6-1 run. It is the first comeback win Northeastern has had trailing 0-2 since Nov. 10 of last year, when the Huskies turned the tables on the eventual league champions College of Charleston.
 
Northeastern closes out the 2014 Radisson-UCF Invitational on Saturday, Aug. 30, at 1 p.m. against the tournament hosts Central Florida.