📹 | The #HowlinHuskies (8-2) are title bound after taking down the CAA South division champion, James Madison, on Friday night.

Head coach Lenika Vazquez stands in the #CAAChamps winner's circle with the @FloVolleyball crew: pic.twitter.com/q0f28ZTrl1

— Northeastern Volleyball (@GoNUwvolleyball) April 3, 2021

TOWSON, Md. – With Defne Arliel, Samantha Shupe and Erica Staunton recording a trio of double-double performances during Friday's CAA semifinal round, the Northeastern volleyball team darted past James Madison in four sets (23-25, 25-23, 25-18, 25-21) at Towson's SECU Arena to advance to its first league championship match since 2013.
 
Staunton (19 kills, 10 digs) and Arliel (16 kills, 13 digs) commanded the pins for the Huskies, who controlled the dominant, 60-39 advantage in total kills during the evening. Hours after being named the 2020-21 CAA Setter of the Year, Shupe came through for NU with 29 assists and 12 digs, splitting court time with sophomore Liz Carroll (five kills, 13 assists, six digs).
 
Nailah Jenkins put forth another masterful performance in the middle, totaling seven kills (hit .333), five blocks and five aces.
 
Northeastern (8-2, CAA North No. 2 seed) relied on its strengths at the net to defeat James Madison (7-3, CAA South No. 1 seed) and advance to the program's fourth CAA championship match all-time. The Huskies will play for their first-ever league title on Saturday, April 3 (3 p.m.), when NU opposes the CAA North division's top seed and tournament host, Towson.
 
Playing from behind early during the opening set, Northeastern bookended a pair of four-point scoring runs around one from JMU to knot the score at 18-18. Though Maddie Donaphon's late service ace had awarded NU the 23-22 lead, the Dukes found a way around Staunton's eight kills to steal the opener, 25-23.
 
Despite facing the 14-8 deficit midway through the second set, Jenkins changed the tone of the match with her five-point serving run that featured a pair of aces. Brianna Daphnis and Marika Virthe connected on the block that capped the Huskies' 10-2 scoring run while strong pin hitting down the stretch by Ariel allowed NU to turn its two-point lead into the 25-23 set victory.
 
With momentum on its side, Northeastern used its 10-3 scoring run to break away from the third set's 4-4 tie as the Huskies motored to the 2-1 match lead with relative ease. NU landed 16 kills on 45 attacks (hit .289) while holding the Dukes to nine kills and six attack errors, cashing in its first set point with Arliel's emphatic solo block.
 
Northeastern continued flexing its attack well into the fourth set, where NU dropped 20 kills on 45 attacks (hit .356). Although James Madison managed to trim the Huskies' six-point lead down to two at 21-19, Jenkins sandwiched a pair of kills between ones by Arliel and Carroll as Northeastern finished off the Dukes, 25-21.
 
Caitlyn Meyer and Sophia Davis co-led James Madison with 14 kills apiece. Karis Beasley and Zarah White both recorded 16 digs for the Dukes while Caroline Dozier assisted on 32 of the team's 39 kills.
 
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