Box Score

BOSTON – Rhode Island turned the Huskies' home opener sour on Tuesday night, Sept. 9, as the Northeastern women's volleyball team came up short in four close sets, 3-1 (25-22, 27-25, 22-25, 26-24).
 
Brigitte Burcescu led Northeastern (4-3) with a career-high 25 kills and a .420 match hitting percentage. The freshman outside hitter has recored 20 or more kills in two of her last three matches during her first-year campaign.
 
Sophomore Jamie Bredahl achieved a triple-double for the second time this season, collecting 27 assists, 21 digs, and 10 kills. Freshman setter Kristen Walding followed suit with her first double-double of the season, tying 22 assists together with 11 digs.
 
Natalia Skiba and Ashlee Asada kept racking up digs for Northeastern all match long, as the backcourt duo stopped 20 and 11 URI attacks, respecitively. Skiba also delivered eight assists to her teammates and served up three aces.
 
Junior transfer Cherylain Dizon landed 11 attacks in for kills against the Rams, while sophomore Ava Cramp threw down nine kills of her own.
 
Catie Steffen, Franki Darnold and Cate Seman combined for 44 of 56 kills for Rhode Island (7-0), while sophomore setter Callan Kinnan dished out 51 assists in the match.
 
Back-to-back kills by Cramp brought the Huskies even at 2-2 in the first game, followed closely by two Rhode Island attacking errors that gave NU an early 4-3 lead. After a kill by Darnold brought the Rams back to within one at 5-4, the Huskies went on a six-point tear to race out to an 11-4 advantage, forcing Rhode Island head coach Bob Schneck to call for time.
 
The timeout managed to cool off the streaky Huskies as the two teams traded each of the next seven points until Rhode Island was finally able to string two together at 14-9. But Northeastern answered right back and a kill by Bredahl saw the Huskies match their largest lead of the set at 16-9.
 
However, the Rams' offense started to click as Kinnan set up Steffen and Self for kills to spark a 4-1 run for URI. After Walding landed an ace to make it 19-13, Rhode Island would score five of the next six points to cut the Northeastern lead to two at 20-18. Even after Dizon's two kills extended the Huskies' lead to 22-19, Rhode Island tagged the last six points of the game to steal a 25-22 win and a 1-0 lead in the match.
 
Three kills by Northeastern early in the second game were matched with a three-point run by URI, but a kill by Bredahl tied the set at 4-4. The Huskies struggled operating their attacking game around Rhode Island's front row, as a block by Darnold and Layne Self fueled a 5-1 run for the Rams, who led 9-5. The offensive woes continued for NU, and head coach Ken Nichols saw a need to reset the Huskies' game plan.
 
The timeout proved to be a great coaching move by Nichols, as Northeastern came out of the huddle scoring 11 of the next 13 points to lead URI 18-14. Skiba connected with Burcescu, and Walding set up Bredahl for a 20-17 Husky advantage, but Rhode Island kept chipping away at the lead. Kinnan would find Darnold for two kills and Steffen for two more as the Rams took back the lead at 23-22.
 
Kills by Burcescu and Cramp gave the Huskies a chance to win the second set at 25-24, but Rhode Island would score the final three points of the set to take the second 27-25.
 
The Rams opened the third game on a 4-0 run, but the lead was quickly erased as Burcescu guided the Huskies with four of her 25 kills to score 10 of the next 13 points and pull in front of URI 10-7. But Rhode Island's attacking game would take off, as Kinnan found four different attackers for seven kills to put the pressure back on Northeastern with a 15-13 lead.
 
After falling behind 19-16, freshman Taylor Reiter came up big on back-to-back points for NU, landing a kill and an ace to help the Huskies pull even at 19-19. Not going down without a fight, Burcescu added three more kills late in the third, and Northeastern tagged five out of the last six points in the set to bring the match to 2-1.
 
Eager to push the match to a fifth set, the Huskies held the early advantage in the fourth at 6-4, but four unanswered by URI saw the NU lead disappear. However, Northeastern's attackers would jumpstart the offense with seven kills as part of a 10-3 Husky run to lead the set 16-11.
 
Content on winning in four games, the Rams pushed back at NU with an 8-4 run of their own to bring the game to within one at 20-19. The two squads continued to trade points until the Huskies led at 24-22, but just like Rhode Island had done in the first two sets, the Rams closed out the fourth on a run, this time winning each of the last four points.
 
Northeastern travels to South Bend, Indiana this weekend to compete in the Shamrock Invitational held at Notre Dame. The Huskies will play Northern Iowa on Friday, Sept. 12 at 4:30 p.m., and will play two matches Saturday, Sept. 13 against Notre Dame (10:30 a.m.) and TCU (5 p.m.).