Box Score

BOSTON – Cabot Center was nearly filled to capacity with Northeastern women's volleyball fans on Friday night, as the home crowd of over 1,000 helped the Huskies defeat local rival Boston College, 3-1 (25-23, 21-25, 25-22, 26-24).
 
Senior libero Natalia Skiba was honored before the match began for becoming Northeastern's all-time dig leader after surpassing Kira Batura's total of 1,888 career digs last weekend against Northern Iowa. Skiba added 21 digs to her career total Friday night against Boston College, and is now just nine digs shy of hitting the 2,000-dig milestone.
 
Sophomore Jamie Bredahl was the leading attacker for Northeastern, recording 16 kills, 5 digs, and two aces on the night.
 
Outside hitters Brigitte Burcescu and Hannah Fry each landed double-digit kills for the Huskies. Burcescu finished with 12 kills and three errors on 38 attacks, while Fry had 10 kills with two errors on 17 attacks for a hitting percentage of .471.
 
Freshman Kristen Walding did the bulk of the setting for Northeastern, finding her teammates 39 times throughout the match.
 
Alexa Armstrong, Taylor Reiter, and Caterina Rosander each had tremendous blocking performances, each totaling over four blocks in the match.
 
Boston College (5-5) had 63 kills in the match compared to Northeastern's total of just 54. Katty Workman and Julia Topor each earned double-doubles for the Eagles, with Workman tagging an impressive 22 kills and 13 digs.
 
The energy in Cabot Center was electric once Northeastern (7-5) broke out of the gates with a 4-2 run to open the first set. However, Boston College responded by scoring eight of the next nine points to command a 10-5 advantage over NU thanks to two separate four-point runs.
 
After BC dropped two more points on the Huskies to go up 12-7, Northeastern scored three in a row with kills by Rosander and Bredahl to bring the set to 12-10, and force a BC timeout. The Eagles came out of the break firing with two kills from Topor and Workman to lead 15-11, but the Huskies capitalized on three pivotal BC errors to score six out of the next seven points to take the lead back 17-16.
 
The Eagles would string three out of four points together to threaten to close the door on NU in the first at 19-18, but the Huskies rallied off the home crowd and netted five out of the next six points to lead 23-20. Despite letting BC cut the lead to one at 24-23, a costly service error awarded Northeastern the first set, 25-23.
 
Neither team was able to pull away from the other in the early second set, as a three-point run for Northeastern at 8-6 was met by two straight points by BC to tie the set up at 8-8. The Huskies would break another tie at 11-11 with a kill by Bredahl and a BC handling error, but the Eagles would go on to score eight of the next nine points to race out to a 19-14 edge in the second set.
 
Burcescu sent home back-to-back kills to cut the deficit to three at 19-16, but it was to no avail as Boston College rattled off another four straight points to go up 24-18. Key serving by Claire Manhard helped NU save three set points, but BC held on to level the match at 1-1 with a 25-21 second set win.
 
Northeastern jumped out in front in the third set after an over pass by Megan Kehoe found the open court, sparking a four-point run for the Huskies that put them up 8-4 in the third set. BC answered back scoring four out of the next five points, and five plays later had tied the set up at 11-11 after two kills from Topor.
 
Trailing 17-16, Boston College scored three straight points on kills by Topor and Workman, followed by a block assist by Workman and Anna Skold. Northeastern head coach Ken Nichols, though, sensed a pivotal point in the match was at hand, and called timeout. The coaching decision proved to be clutch as the Huskies scored four straight and eight of the last 11 points in the set to take the third 25-22 over BC.
 
Boston College kept pace with Northeastern early in the fourth set, tying the score four times before 7-7. Northeastern scooted ahead 10-7 with two kills from Fry sandwiched around a Bredahl ace, and built a four point lead, 13-9, after two more kills from Rosander and Burcescu. The lead was short-lived, however, as BC scored on five out of the next six points to tie the set at 14-14, and the two teams alternated scoring until BC led 20-19.
 
A block from Burcescu and Reiter tied the set back at 20-20, and each team continued to trade points back and forth, until Workman's attack on match point failed to clear the net, securing the win for the Huskies.
 
Northeastern battles Harvard on Saturday, Sept. 20, at 7 p.m. for its second home match of the 2014 New England Challenge at Cabot Center.