Sept. 11, 2009

MEM - NIU Final Stats

WKU - NIU Final Stats

MEM - NIU Final Box

WKU - NIU Final Box

BOWLING GREEN, Ky. - The Northern Illinois volleyball team dropped both of its matches on Friday at the Lady Topper Volleyball Invitational on the campus of Western Kentucky as the Huskies (4-6) were beaten 3-0 by Memphis early in the day and 3-0 by the Lady Toppers in the night cap.

After losing the first set, 25-19, to Memphis in NIU's morning match, the Huskies fought back hard only to drop the next two sets by a combined four points, forcing overtime in the third.

With the score knotted 20-20 in the second set, NIU fell behind 22-20 after Memphis scored on an attack error by Cassie Yates (LaPorte, Ind./LaPorte) and a kill by Lauren Thompson, causing NIU to call a timeout. Out of the break, the Huskies fired right back to tie it after Meagan Schoenrock (Sylvania, Ohio/Northview) notched a kill, Kristin Hoffman (Batavia, Ill./Batavia) committed a handling error, and Hoffman and Mary Kurisch (LaCrosse, Ill./West Salem) combined on a block to force Memphis to take a timeout. Just as NIU did, the Tigers came out of the timeout ready to go and scored the final two points of the set, 25-23, with a kill by Katlin Inglish and an attack error by Dani D'Ambrose (Addison, Ill./Addison Trail).

In the third set, the Huskies had a 22-20 lead after a kill by Allison McGlaughlin (Morton, Ill./Morton), but Memphis tied the score after a service error by D'Ambrose and a block by Emily Underwood and Christine Bach. The two teams then exchanged points, leaving the score knotted 26-26 before an attack error by Meghan Romo (Valparaiso, Ind./Valparaiso) and a kill by Underwood ended the set, 28-26, and gave the Tigers the match.

McGlaughlin led NIU with 14 kills and 14 digs for her third double-double of the season. Hoffman tallied a team-high 24 assists, while Maddie Hughes (St. Charles, Ill./North) led the defense with 15 digs.

In their evening match against WKU, the Huskies were out-hit .389 to .118 and out-killed 44 to 31 as the Lady Toppers built early leads and maintained them throughout the match to earn the 25-20, 25-13, 25-18 win over the Huskies.

McGlaughlin led NIU in kills once again with 10, while Amanda Tadla (Oaklawn, Ill./Oaklawn) tallied 24 assists. Hughes tallied a team-best 11 digs on the defensive side.

The Huskies finish the Lady Topper Volleyball Invitational tomorrow with an 11 a.m. CT match against Tennessee State.