Nov. 3, 2007

Final Stats

Mount Pleasant, Mich. - The Northern Illinois volleyball team was unable to snap Central Michigan's six-match winning streak, losing 30-22, 30-21, 30-25. With the win the Chippewas move to 20-8, 9-5 in Mid-American Conference play, while the Huskies drop to 11-17, 5-9.

"Central Michigan took advantage of their opportunities," said NIU head coach Ray Gooden. "They are an experienced team and are one of the best teams on our side of the conference. They played good team volleyball. We definitely got beat tonight by a good team."

The Chippewas started game one with a 12-5 run. With the score in favor of CMU 15-9, the Huskies were able gain some ground after kills from sophomores Meagan Schoenrock (Sylvania, Ohio / Northview) and Cassie Yates (LaPorte, Ind. / LaPorte) and a Chippewa error pulled NIU within three points, 15-12. But CMU promptly answered with a 5-1 run to push their lead to 20-13. From there, the Chippewas were able to finish the game 30-22.

In game two, CMU opened with another run, scoring the first seven points with three of the points coming by the hand of Kate Fissel. The Chippewas kept that wide margin, leading 19-12 before a 6-1 NIU run that included three kills from senior Laura Baetzel (Chicago, Ill. / Burbank Queen of Peace) narrowed the CMU lead to 20-18. Similar to game one, the Chippewas responded with a 5-0 run that propelled them to a 30-21 win.

With the scored tied at 5-5 in game three, a Baetzel kill and a service ace from junior Jody Hardwick (Crystal Lake, Ill. / Crystal Lake South / St. Louis) gave NIU a 7-5 lead. The lead was short-lived, though as two Huskie errors knotted the score at 7-7. The teams then exchanged kills before CMU went on a 10-4 run to take an 18-12 lead. The Chippewas were able to then ride that run to a 30-25 win, ending the match.

Senior Mandi Caputo (Chicago, Ill. / Immaculate Heart of Mary / DePaul) notched a double-double with 34 assists and 12 digs to lead the Huskies. Baetzel and Schoenrock each added 11 kills, while Hardwick totaled a team-high 17 digs for the NIU defense.

Fissel led the way for the Chippewas with 15 kills and four service aces. Courtney Kersten registered 53 assists to help the CMU offense. Defensively, Alexis Lonneman tallied a team-high 42 digs.

NIU is back in action on Friday, November 9 at 7 p.m. to face Ball State at home in Victor E. Court.

-NIU