By Madeline Sattler, News Staff
For the third time this season, the volleyball team dealt with the pressure of a five-set marathon match on Friday night and came out victorious over the College of William & Mary.
The Huskies headed to Williamsburg, Va., having already defeated the Tribe once this season, 3-1, on Solomon Court (Sept. 30). Friday night it took an extra set for Northeastern to conquer their Colonial Athletic Association rivals (25-18, 25-12, 22-25, 28-30, 15-13) and remain in second place in the conference.
“It’s good that our team is seeing environments that are simulating a championship play,” head coach Ken Nichols said. “That kind of pressure is hard to simulate or emulate in the gym.”
Friday’s match gave the Huskies good practice for the pressures that are to come once they begin postseason play.
“The most important thing to come away from [the game] is how are we going to respond in a semi-final and final kind of environment,” Nichols said. “We’ve got to be able to play under pressure and play tough and confident.”
The first set was neck and neck as the two teams battled to 16. The Huskies won nine of the final 11 points which included two kills and a service ace by junior outside hitter Hanna Gibeau. Middle hitters senior Nicole Bishop and junior Nichole Kurz also had kills in the late run.
Seven different Huskies notched kills in the opening frame and sophomore setter Jillian Briner had seven of her 32 assists in the set.
The Huskies opened up set two with an 11-3 run. Junior defensive specialist Brianna Hollis notched the final two points of the set with a pair of service aces.
In the third set, the Tribe came out swinging as they obtained a 16-8 lead.
“Clearly, we sat back a little bit going into that third set,” Nichols said. “It was an interesting combination of us coming out a little flat and William & Mary coming out guns blazing.”
The Huskies would pull within one at 20-21 thanks to two kills by Bishop and six Tribe errors. The effort wasn’t enough and the Tribe took the third set.
Bishop had a career-high 18 kills on the afternoon.
The fourth set was close in the beginning until the teams were tied at eight.
The Tribe took the lead and held on late into the set. They had two set points before junior outside hitter Kelly Bacon tied the game at 24 with one of her 16 kills.
Three times Northeastern had the opportunity to win the set, but they could not seal the deal.
“We didn’t step up,” Nichols said. “We started to play careful and tentative.”
In the frame of first to 15 to break the 2-2 set tie, Northeastern took the early lead, but the Tribe came back and the teams were deadlocked at 10.
Two Bishop kills, a Bacon kill and two attacking errors accounted for the final five points as the Huskies squeaked out the victory.
“When it comes to that fifth [set], you just really push yourself and you go through and you take care of business,” Kurz said.
Northeastern recorded a season-high 64 kills as a team. Sophomore libero Natalia Skiba scooped up 26 digs to anchor the defense.
Following the weekend, Skiba was named CAA Defensive Player of the Week for the third time this season.
“I think [Skiba] has been rock city all year,” Nichols said. “She’s just a phenomenal athlete, she makes our team better.”
Before Friday’s contest, the Huskies had been 1-1 in five set matches. They haven’t had too much experience with the pressures that come with tight games this season as 11 of their wins have been in consecutive sets.
“We haven’t really gone to five [sets] a lot this year,” Kurz said. “It’s important before we go into the conference tournament that we know how to win a fifth set, so that was crucial.”
Northeastern will play two more regular season games on the road this weekend to close out the regular season. They take on James Madison University on Friday at 7 p.m. and George Mason University at 6 p.m. on Saturday.
