By Madeline Sattler, News Staff
With two victories over the weekend against James Madison and George Mason Universities, the Northeastern volleyball team moved to a perfect 5-0 this season in the Colonial Athletic Association (CAA).
“Every match in the conference is going to be close because of the tape exchange and because of the intimacy,” head coach Ken Nichols said. “But it’s critical to win every point that you can in conference.”
The Huskies swept JMU Sunday afternoon in three close sets (25-23, 25-18, 25-23). The Dukes got the scoring started in the first set, but saw their four-point lead disappear when the Huskies tied it at 11. From then on, neither team took more than a three-point advantage as both sides refused to let up.
In the end, a kill by junior outside hitter Kelly Bacon sealed the deal for Northeastern and gave the Huskies set one. Bacon had five of her eight kills in the opening frame.
“The nice thing to see was a very consistent ability to execute under pressure,” Nichols said. “These are the kind of skills we are going to need to win a championship.”
The Dukes once again got the early lead jumping out to a 4-1 start. However, Northeastern responded with an 8-0 run which included three service aces from junior outside hitter Janelle Tucker.
“Everybody has had some great matches over the last couple of weekends,” Nichols said. “[Tucker] has shot up there with hitting percentage.”
JMU eventually cut the lead to three, but that’s as close as they got in the set. A Tucker kill and a service ace by junior defensive specialist Brianna Hollis clinched the second set for Northeastern.
The final set saw a lot of back-and-forth action early. A kill by senior middle hitter Nicole Bishop gave the Huskies their biggest lead of the match, 15-11. But slowly the Dukes climbed back into it and pulled within a one point difference at 22-21. Kills by Bacon and Tucker and an attacking error by the Dukes ensured the win for the Huskies.
Bishop and Tucker led the offensive efforts on the afternoon with 13 and nine kills respectively. Junior setter Ina Kamenova tallied 20 assists and sophomore libero Natalia Skiba scooped up 11 digs in the Huskies fifth win over a CAA team.
“JMU being one of the top four in our conference, we knew we had to step our game up,” Bishop said.
Friday evening’s contest was another important CAA matchup which the Huskies also swept (25-22, 25-23, 26-24).
The Huskies took advantage of seven GMU errors to take an early lead in the first set. Although the set was close, the Huskies never allowed the Patriots to take the lead.
The second set was a battle with neither team running away with a lead – both sides kept it within three points. Sophomore setter Jill Briner notched the set-winning kill as part of an eight kill performance on the evening. Skiba dug out 10 of her 20 digs in the set.
“Jill [Briner] is putting up tremendous numbers offensively and Skiba is just doing what she’s doing,” Nichols said.
The Patriots held the lead for most of the final set, including their biggest lead of the day at 14-9. GMU had three set points, but the Huskies rallied and tied it at 24. Bishop slammed the final kill in to cap the Huskies’ rally and win the match.
“The game was really close and we kind of just pushed at the end and ended up winning,” Tucker said.
The Huskies have seven more regular season games against CAA opponents. They will head out on the road for their next three, including a rematch at Hofstra this Saturday at 7 p.m.
“Playing them the second time is usually the most dangerous time to play them because they know you so much better,” Bishop said. “That not only means that you have to know them just as well, but you also have to be able switch up your offense and your defense and show them something new.”
