By Erika Carrubba

The Northeastern volleyball team wrapped up their season Friday, Nov. 19 with a loss to third seed University of Maine. The Huskies finished up the season with an overall record of 20-10 and an 11-3 conference record.

Maine came out hard, shutting down Northeastern 30-19 in the first game with the Huskies hitting only .045. The Dogs battled back to take game two by the same score with a much improved .394 hitting percentage.

“We got beat up in the first game but we turned around and gave it right back in the second game,” said coach Ken Nichols.

With a shifted line-up NU headed into game three. However, Maine forced six Husky errors and took game three 30-25. The Huskies were again able to battle back in the fourth game holding the Black Bears to a .083 hitting percentage and forcing 10 errors. Game five came down to two mental errors by the Huskies that allowed Maine to win 15-12.

“We struggled on serve receive which is indicative of nerves. We are a young team with a lot of depth but we were nervous too,” Nichols said.

Whitney Turner led the offense with 17 kills followed by Larissa Adomat with 14 kills. Bree Peterson stayed consistent with 38 assists, as did libero Ashley Adamczyk who led the team with 27 digs. Ashley Reeves also had a solid night with 10 kills and three digs.

Maine was also coming in with a lot of momentum having handed the previously unbeaten Albany a loss and Northeastern a home court loss on senior recognition night. In the finals Saturday, Maine would force Albany into a game five before Albany shut down the Black Bears to win the America East Championship.

Despite the first round loss, the Huskies had a lot to celebrate at the end of the season. Freshmen Peterson, Kira Batura and Brittany Eukovich took three of the six spots on the conference All-Rookie Team. Batura was also named Rookie of the Year. Batura ranked fourth in the league in digs with 4.32 per game, and averaged 2.81 kills per game. Batura was also named to the Honorable Mention All-Conference Team.

Adomat and Whitney Turner were named to the All-Conference team. This was Adomat’s third selection. She led the team with 84 blocks on the season. Turner led the team in kills this season.

Also named to the All-Conference team and a unanimous choice for Defensive Specialist of the Year was Adamczyk. She led the league with 5.47 digs per game and recorded double-digit digs in 29 of the 30 matches this year. She also holds the school record with 39 digs in a game set on Nov. 6 against Maine.