By Jared Spineli

The Northeastern volleyball team, on the heels of back-to-back victories over the weekend, could not continue their good play, and fell to Boston College 3-1 tuesday night in their home opener at Solomon Court.

The Huskies could never get rolling against the Eagles, and struggled to defend BC’s offensive attack.

“It’s a very tough loss, we played nowhere near our level,” said

Huskies head coach Ken Nichols. “You have to give BC credit. We couldn’t make adjustments.”

Sophomore standout Whitney Turner agreed.

“They were seeing where our weaknesses were, and exploiting them,” said Turner, who led the Huskies with 11 kills and 10 digs, her third double-double of the season. “It was just a bad game. They were consistent, and we weren’t.”

BC won the opening game, but the Huskies answered in the second game for a 30-25 win. Northeastern couldn’t keep the momentum up, however, and BC took both the third and fourth games, 30-26.

“[BC] took advantage of the fact that we were tired,” said freshman Bree Peterson, who yesterday was named the America East Rookie of the Week.

“We played poor, and they played a good match.”

Tuesday’s loss comes after it looked like the Huskies had turned things around this season, bouncing back to win their final two matches of the two-day Nike/Holliday Inn Sunset Classic in Irvine, Calif. held this past weekend, after starting the tourney with two straight loses.

“We’re going to have to make some changes, and generate some more offensive,” Nichols said.

The Huskies, ranked second in the 2004 America East preseason coaches poll, recorded consecutive 3-1 victories on Saturday against George Washington University and The College of William ‘ Mary, a day after falling to host University of California-Irvine, 3-0.

It was quite a homecoming for Turner, whose hometown of Manhattan Beach is just 20 minutes from where the tourney was played. The outside hitter once again led the Huskies in kills (15 versus George Washington, 22 versus William ‘ Mary), and has led the team in all five matches this season.

“We rewarded [Turner] with the court time she deserved,” said NU head coach Ken Nichols. “This year she’s bigger, faster, stronger, and smarter than ever before.”

Also standing out in the Huskies match against George Washington was freshman outside hitter Kira Batura, who led both teams with 23 digs. Batura, one of the top recruits in the off-season for Northeastern, has generated a lot of buzz so far in her early collegiate career.

“She’s world class,” Nichols said. “There’s talk about her playing defense at the international level, that’s just how good she is.”

Against William ‘ Mary, it was senior libero Ashley Adamczyk who finished with a match-high 35 digs in the Husky victory.

“We’ve been very good, and very impressive,” Nichols said after the win against William ‘ Marry. “Last year our defense was great, but this year our defense is right at the top of the nation, right with Irvine and Long Beach State.”

Before Tuesday’s tough loss, the back-to-back wins looked to right the ship for the Huskies, who started the season with a loss to Long Beach State 3-2 last week in the season opener, followed by the loss to UC-Irvine on the first day of the Sunset Classic. Long Beach State and UC-Irvine are both two of the top volleyball programs in the country.

“With the opening game [versus Long Beach State], I thought we might have been biting off a little more than we could chew,” Nichols said. “but they proved me wrong. It was ours to lose.”

Despite her great play, the team has yet to have a healthy Bree Peterson in the mix, whose injured ankle has limited the freshman setter so far this season. The team has suceeded so far in implement Peterson into matches as best they can without setting back her progress.

“We’ve got great defense, and great depth,” Nichols said. “This team is extremely coachable, and extremely humble. I’ve been waiting nine years for a team like this.”

The Huskies will next host TCU this Friday at 3 p.m. and St. Peter’s Saturday at 7 p.m., as part of the New England Challenge, at Solomon Court.