By Gina-Marie Garcia, News Correpsondent
The women’s volleyball team snapped its nine-game winning streak this past weekend, falling to the University of Delaware Blue Hens 3-0 on foreign turf. The Huskies now stand at 9-3 in Colonial Athletic Association (CAA) play.
The last time the Huskies were defeated was Sept. 30 against the Blue Hens and according to sophomore outsider hitter Janelle Tucker, the Huskies had not beat the team since 2007. Unfortunately for the Huskies, that fact still stands.
“We are more than capable of winning and we’re a talented team,” Tucker said. “I think it was kind of a mental thing playing against Delaware because we haven’t beaten them in so long and it’s really frustrating for us.”
Sophomore middle hitter Nichole Kurz said the competition against the Blue Hens was tougher this past weekend compared to the last time the Huskies faced them.
“[Deleware] basically played everything right and had so much more passion,” she said.
Delaware defeated Northeastern in the first three sets 25-17, 25-15 and 25-14, respectively.
Head coach Ken Nichols said his squad was not able to score as much because the opposition had consistent serving and referenced siding out as a major issue that plagued the team.
“The central problem was our serve receive,” Nichols said. “We never really passed better and Delaware never really missed a serve.”
The loss Saturday may have cost the Huskies their spot atop the CAA, depending on how Northeastern performs next weekend against Georgia State University and the University of North Carolina Wilmington (UNC Wilmington).
The Huskies placement will also depend on Delaware’s performance next weekend.
The team triumphed Friday with a win against Towson University. Northeastern fell behind early, loosing the first two sets 25-19 and 25-19. Despite the shaky start, the team recovered and won the last three sets 25-23, 25-17 and 15-13, respectively.
“I don’t know what went on, but we weren’t a cohesive team working together,” Kurz said. “Individuals were doing well at different points, but we didn’t play together well as a team.”
She said the reason for the loss in the first two sets was because the team “didn’t really bring it.” Despite all this, she felt that after the second match the team rejuvenated and went out on the court hungry to win.
“We had more of a drive and motivation to do things perfect,” she said. “It was more of a desire because we were about to lose.”
Nichols said the team began to step up their game by serving more aggressively.
“We started to serve tougher and they started to feel more pressure in serve receive,” he said.
Tucker also said the team improved in their overall passing in the last three sets, which allowed the team to “set the middles more and get more kills.”
“It was really important that we all stepped up and [started] to lead,” she said. “The energy started to become contagious and we were really able to get more runs and side outs easily. We really came together as a team. It takes a lot to come back from being down zero and two.”
Nichols said this past weekend was a learning experience and the team needs to play with passion and a little more diligence next weekend.
The Huskies will be playing away next weekend against Georgia State University tomorrow and UNC Wilmington Sunday.
