Box Score SOUTH BEND, Ind. – Despite having four chances to push the match to a fourth set, the Northeastern women's volleyball team could not quite hold off Northern Iowa late in the third, dropping the opening match of the 2014 Shamrock Invitational 3-0 (25-15, 25-20, 31-29) on Friday afternoon.
Senior libero
Natalia Skiba kept the Huskies alive in points throughout the match, grabbing 31 digs and making several impressive defensive stops in the backcourt.
Jamie Bredahl tagged another double-double on the day as the sophomore filled the stat sheet with 16 assists, 11 kills, and seven digs. Fellow setter
Kristen Walding led Northeastern with 20 assists.
Co-CAA Rookie of the Week
Brigitte Burcescu posted a match-high 12 kills and had only four attacking errors on 36 attempts (.222). Teammate
Caterina Rosander netted seven kills with only two errors, and had one of the Huskies' two blocks the entire match.
Northern Iowa (3-5) saw great offensive play from junior Kinsey Caldwell, who set 43 balls up for kills as the Panthers' primary setter. Senior Eryca Hingtgen and sophomore Lindsey Schulz each threw down 11 kills, while Hingtgen added 14 digs to her match totals.
A 2-0 lead for Northeastern (4-4) in the first set was vacated by three straight attacking errors that sent the Panthers ahead. Schulz and teammate Kayla Haneline sent back an attack made by Burcescu at 6-3 UNI, and the Panthers capitalized on two more Husky errors to build a 9-4 first set advantage.
After Walding set up Bredahl for a kill to bring the Huskies within four at 10-6, Northern Iowa's defense stepped up with back-to-back blocks by Hingtgen, Leigh Pudwill, and Autumn Alitz, as part of a 6-1 run that gave the Panthers a nine-point lead. Senior middle hitter
Ava Cramp brought the Huskies as close as eight with one of her five kills of the match, but UNI rolled to a 25-15 game win.
Down a set, Northeastern landed four straight kills in the early second to go up 4-2, and Rosander blasted two more kills for a 6-4 lead. But Northern Iowa strung together two three-point runs to turn the tables on the Huskies and take the lead back at 11-9.
Northeastern's offense found more of a rhythm midway through the second set, as NU went on a 7-3 run thanks to four combined kills by Burcescu, Cramp, and Rosander to jump on top 16-14.
UNI would tie the set at 16-16, but the Huskies responded, winning three out of the next four points to lead 19-17 and forcing Panthers head coach Bobbi Petersen to call timeout. The coaching move turned out to be pivotal, as Northern Iowa won eight of the last nine points on five kills and an ace to win the second set 25-20, and cruise to a 2-0 lead in the match.
Already coming back from 0-2 down once this season, the Huskies were determined to leave everything on the court to keep the match alive. Neither team could pull away from the other in the third, as the score was tied 24 times in a grueling 31-29 set won by Northern Iowa.
Northeastern had leads at 21-18 and 22-20 before an attack error by
Hannah Fry leveled the set at 22-22. The Huskies would score twice to earn two set points at 24-22, but both were saved as Hingtgen tacked on two more kills for the Panthers.
Bredahl gave NU its third set point at 25-24, but the Panthers swung through on two straight points to force their first match point at 26-25. UNI proceeded to have two more match points at 27-26 and 28-27 until Burcescu dropped two kills in from Walding to go up 29-28.
Haneline came up big for the Panthers late, connecting on two kills from Caldwell to help claim the final three points of the set and seal the fate of the Huskies.
Northeastern will play two matches tomorrow on the final day of the 2014 Shamrock Invitational against host Notre Dame (10:30 a.m.) and TCU (5 p.m.).
