The Northern Illinois volleyball team finished the NIU Comfort Inn & Suites Invitational on Saturday with a second-place finish after defeating Stephen F. Austin, 3-0, and Illinois Chicago 3-2.
The Huskies (3-1) cruised by SFA in their afternoon match, 25-19, 25-23, 25-23, by outhitting the Ladyjacks .420 to .272. Meagan Schoenrock l ed the way for NIU with 16 kills, while Allison McGlaughlin had nine, Mary Kurisch had eight and Meghan Romo had seven.
"The key was smart attacking by our pin hitters," NIU coach Ray Gooden said. "We did a good job of taking their strength away, which is their middle attack."
Cassie Yates also had a solid match as she added 10 kills, including a perfect 3-for-3 performance in the first set.
"Cassie's relationship with our setters right now is very positive," Gooden said. "She has worked really hard at putting herself in a spot where she can be successful."
Additionally, Amanda Tadla ran the offense well with 42 assists and Maddie Hughes anchored the defense with 17 digs.
In NIU's final match of the tournament, the Huskies took the first two sets, but dropped the third and fourth sets. However, NIU recovered in the fifth set to take the match, 25-21, 25-19, 23-25, 23-25, 15-10.
"The whole game of momentum was in our favor for the first two sets," Gooden said. "We didn't win the critical points in the third set, which swung the momentum completely their way."
In the deciding set, the Huskies took command of an 8-6 lead at the switch after UIC's Epiphany Davis' attack error. A few plays later, Schoenrock gave NIU a 12-8 lead after she registered two kills and a block. After a UIC timeout, Yates tallied a kill and a block to give NIU match point, 14-8. The Flames then held on for two more points before Schoenrock ended the match with her 18th kill.
"We scored some pretty critical points after the switch," Gooden said. "I thought that we put UIC in a spot where they really had to make a play and we were able to win a lot of points in transition, which is a very positive sign."
