Box Score | Recap




SOUTH ORANGE, N.J. – Led by sophomore Brianna Daphnis's career high, 20 kills, the Northeastern women's volleyball team put forth a resilient effort against Northern Arizona on Friday at the 2019 Seton Hall Classic (hosted by Seton Hall), coming back from a 2-1 deficit to win a five-set thriller at Walsh Gymnasium (25-21, 12-25, 22-25, 25-21, 16-14).
 
Daphnis offloaded 11 kills across the opening three sets of the match en route to setting career-best marks in kills, attacks (36) and hitting percentage (.417). Natalie Shollin landed a season high, 12 kills, against one attack error (hit .524), helping NU go the distance against the Lumberjacks, who totaled 68 kills (hit .373).
 
Clare Lund and Kayla Martin did the bulk of the defensive work for Northeastern (2-2), finishing with 15 digs apiece. Samantha Shupe paired 21 assists and 10 digs together to post the first double-double of her junior season while Liz Carroll assisted on 34 of the Huskies' 66 kills.
 
Northeastern played its best opening set of the young season, breaking its 12-12 tie with Northern Arizona (2-3) by spurring a 4-1 run, featuring two service aces by Erica Staunton (14-12) and Shollin (16-13). After the Lumberjacks had pulled within a point at 19-18, the Huskies rattled off five consecutive points before ultimately prevailing during their fourth of six set points.
 
Northern Arizona responded to Northeastern's 16-kill opening set by landing 19 kills against one attack error during the second set, hitting .514 to even the match at one set apiece.
 
Tied for the sixth time at 11-11 during the third set, the Huskies received clutch kills by Shollin, Shupe and Staunton to take the 15-12 lead, but surrendered six unanswered points to Northern Arizona that put NU behind, 18-15. Despite back-to-back kills by Daphnis and Shollin that later leveled the set at 22-22, the Lumberjacks landed three straight kills to win the set, 25-22.
 
Northeastern held as large as a three-point lead during the early stages of the fourth set before Northern Arizona erased the gap at 11-11. Receiving consecutive kills from Staunton, the Huskies burst in front, 14-11, to take the set lead for the final time, tallying 15 fourth set kills and hitting .263.
 
Kills by Staunton and Daphnis allowed Northeastern to break the 2-2 tie during the fifth set, allowing the Huskies to charge out to the 9-6 edge. Although the Lumberjacks would rally to hold leads at 12-10 and 13-11, Carroll and Shupe set consecutive NU kills for Daphnis and Shollin, respectively, evening the set at 13-13.
 
Athena Ardila united with Shollin on a block to squash Northern Arizona's match point at 14-13, cuing three straight points for the Huskies that won Northeastern the match. Evelyn Gonzalez knocked down the match-winning kill, playing a pass from Lund.