By Madeline Sattler, News Staff
Last season, the Northeastern women’s volleyball team posted a 21-6 record, its best single season winning clip since 1987. Currently, they sit at 6-2 after two weeks of non-conference play.
Northeastern opened up the season by winning its second straight Beanpot Classic tournament Aug. 24 and 25. In the first game, the Huskies outlasted the Alabama University Crimson Tide in a five set match (25-17, 18-25, 26-24, 28-30, 15-13).
Junior outside hitter Kelly Bacon had the game winning kill and sophomore setter Jillian Briner recorded a triple-double with 10 kills, 30 assists and 12 digs in the three hour-long match.
“To beat a team like [Alabama] that’s well funded and comes from a great conference is really saying something,” head coach Ken Nichols said. “Obviously it was evenly matched and showed our character.”
Briner and senior middle-hitter Nicole Bishop each had 10 kills in game two of the tournament against the Holy Cross Crusaders. Bishop is one of two seniors on the team this season and also serves as co-captain.
“[The Alabama game] set the tempo for the rest of the tournament,” said Bishop. “We weren’t going to let any other teams beat us because this is our tournament.”
The Huskies swept the Crusaders in three sets (25-16, 25-14, 25-18).
In the final match of the tournament, the Huskies took on a Sacred Heart team that came into the match with a relative power index (RPI) one higher than Northeastern. The Huskies were resilient, taking the match in four games (25-21, 22-25, 25-18, 25-16). Bacon had the game-winning kill in the final set.
“To be able to pull those three wins together was really critical to start our season,” Nichols said. “It put us in a position to feel confident heading out to the west coast.”
Junior middle hitter Nicole Kurz and sophomore libero Natalia Skiba were named to the All-Tournament team. Kurz had 25 kills and 11 blocks while Skiba came up with 73 digs in three games. Following the tournament, Skiba was also named the tournament’s most valuable player.
The Huskies went on to improve to a 4-0 record by sweeping the University of New Hampshire Wildcats (25-20, 25-23, 25-16). Bacon had 12 kills and hit .333 to lead the offense while Skiba continued to be a defensive rock with 15 digs.
“The first four matches were just affirmations of expectations,” Nichols said. “We looked at these first four matches as frankly must-wins.”
The winning streak was halted last weekend as the Huskies travelled to California. They took on the No. 3-ranked University of California-Los Angeles and were at the losing end of a 3-0 sweep. (21-25, 18-25, 21-25).
“The idea was to get into that match and try and teach our athletes that they no longer need to be awe-inspired by a team of that caliber,” Nichols said.
The Huskies were ahead early in each set, but could not match the play of last season’s NCAA champions.
Northeastern then took on the University of California-Santa Barbara, losing in three close sets (26-24, 25-23, 25-17). Bacon led the team with 12 kills while Kurz and Briner added nine.
“Against Santa Barbara we needed to push a little bit harder at the end, but we were right there with them,” Bishop said.
The Huskies snapped their two-game losing streak that evening with a 3-1 win over the University of Idaho Vandals (22-25, 25-18, 26-24, 26-24). Bacon had a season-high 17 kills on the night and Skiba recorded 17 digs to put Northeastern back in the win column.
Following the tournament, Skiba was the only Husky recognized with All-Tournament honors for stellar defensive play in all three games.
“Having [Skiba] on the team is incredible,” Bishop said. “To have someone that can consistently get a dig and consistently cover for you just gives you so much confidence as a hitter.”
In the final game of the California trip, Northeastern took on California Polytechnic State University. The Huskies swept the Mustangs by holding them to less than 20 points (25-19, 25-13, 25-19). Bacon had 11 kills and junior Ina Kamenova recorded 13 sets and 12 digs on the afternoon.
“I think in the last two games we did a really good job of changing the way we played and just showing teams that this is Northeastern volleyball,” Bishop said.
Northeastern will head to Durham, N.C., this weekend for the Duke Classic which will feature play against the University of Duke Blue Devils, the Elon University Phoenixes and the East Carolina University Pirates.
