By Madeline Sattler, News Staff
The volleyball team improved to 3-0 in the Colonial Athletic Association (CAA) with wins over the University of North Carolina-Wilmington (UNCW) and the College of William & Mary last weekend, but continuing struggles in the second set meant the Huskies had to work for their undefeated record.
“We get so overconfident after that first set win,” head coach Ken Nichols said. “The real goal now is how do we fix our second set issues.”
In each of their first three CAA games this season, the Huskies had trouble in the second set.
Northeastern defeated UNCW, 3-1, on Friday night (25-17, 23-25, 25-21, 25-14).
After the Seahawks tied the first set at 10, the Huskies pulled ahead and never looked back. Junior setter Ina Kamenova recorded 10 assists in the set and junior outside hitter Kelly Bacon clinched the set with the game-winning kill.
“The first [set] we came out with a good amount of energy and then the second one we kind of played timid,” junior outside hitter Janelle Tucker said after the UNCW game. “I think our serving and our serve-receive wasn’t as good as the first set and we let off the gas at the service line.”
The second set struggles started when UNCW opened up its biggest lead of the day at 16-11, but the Huskies steadily came back to eventually tie it at 22 with a kill by Bacon. However, the home team could not close and the Seahawks took the set, 25-23.
“[The match] was sort of like Hofstra (Sept. 22, a 3-1 win) in that it was a good battle in the first set,” Nichols said after Friday’s match. “Then, we got rattled again and we have to find a way to settle ourselves.”
Both the third and the fourth set went to Northeastern. Sophomore libero Natalia Skiba scooped up 11 of her 18 digs in the final two sets to anchor a steady defense. Sophomore setter Jillian Briner had the set-winning service ace in the third and Tucker’s 15th kill of the day won the match for the Huskies.
“We got it together towards the end and we pulled it off and played like we usually do,” Skiba said.
On Sunday, the Huskies defeated another CAA foe, William & Mary, 3-1 (25-14, 25-23, 21-25, 25-13). Similarly, Northeastern jumped out to a fast start in the first set with nine straight points, struggled in the second and then dropped the third
“It was similar to the previous two conference matches in that there were times of complete dominance and then there were a couple of close sets,” Nichols said.
The second set was, once again, a struggle for the Huskies as the Tribe jumped out to an early lead. A Tucker kill tied the game at 15 and the two teams battled back and forth for the rest of the set. One of Briner’s 12 kills sealed the set victory for the Huskies, but it was a hard-fought battle.
“We’ve got two sets in each of the matches where we’ve just been totally in control and then two sets in each of the matches that were tight,” Nichols said.
The Tribe took a 4-3 lead in the third set on a Northeastern attacking error and would never look back. Skiba scooped up six of her 23 digs in the set and senior middle hitter Nicole Bishop knocked in three of her eight kills.
“That bump that we had been hitting in the second sets kind of got pushed to the third set,” Nichols said.
In the final set, the Tribe opened up with a 6-3 run, but Northeastern scored 10 straight points before running away with the set, 25-13, to close the match. Bacon had five kills in the set and 12 on the day. Kamenova led the team in assists on the afternoon with 27.
In three CAA games this season, the Huskies are 3-0 in opening sets. They hold a 1-2 record in second sets and have surrendered one set to each of their last three opponents.
“No one’s going to give it to us; we have to fight for everything,” Bishop said. “It’s just a start-to-finish thing.”
The Huskies will conclude their eight-game homestand with two games on Solomon Court this weekend. Friday night, the George Mason University Patriots and the Huskies will face off at 7 p.m. On Sunday at 1 p.m. James Madison University will take the court.
