By Maddie Sattler, News Staff
Entering Friday night’s game against the College of Charleston, the Northeastern volleyball team held a 7-6 record, but with the start of conference play, these CAA games were more important to win than the previous 13.
The Huskies split a pair of conference games this past weekend as they opened up Colonial Athletic Association play Friday night. They fell at home against the College of Charleston. They lost the match 3-1 (25-22, 20-25, 18-25, 22-25) before sweeping the University of North Carolina Wilmington (25-23, 25-21, 25-15) the following night.
“[These games] are critical, it’s conference,” head coach Ken Nichols said. “Every conference match is important.”
Friday night, the Huskies were looking to get conference play started on a positive note as they looked to extend their home win streak to 24 games. They opened up with a strong first set that saw a lot of back and forth action, but the Huskies were able to finish it out.
They weren’t so lucky in the subsequent sets as the Cougars took the next three and, ultimately, Northeastern’s first CAA game.
Junior outside hitter Kelly Bacon led the offense with 16 kills while freshman setter Jamie Bredahl had 12. Senior setter Ina Kamenova had 29 assists followed by Bredahl’s 16. Junior libero Natalia Skiba held down the defensive end, scooping up 14 digs and senior outside hitter Janelle Tucker had 12 digs of her own.
“I’m very pleased as to how we were able to respond today from yesterday’s loss,” Nichols said.
After opening CAA play with a loss, the Huskies were looking to bounce back the following night with a victory over UNCW.
The first set began and it was all Seahawks. They took an early lead and the Huskies found themselves down late, 21-18. The Huskies won five straight and an attack error won the opening frame for Northeastern.
“That just shows we can bounce back and we should never give up,” Skiba said.
The second set was up and down, with seven instances where one team went on a run of three points or more.
With Northeastern trailing 13-11, the Huskies went on a 6-0 run to take a lead they would not relinquish. The Seahawks came back cutting the lead to 21-17, but Northeastern held on for the win.
“We were streaky at times and a lot of up and down in the first two sets,” Nichols said. “We were waiting to fix our muscles in the third set.”
At the start of the third set, it was clear the Huskies were looking for the sweep. They came out firing, winning the first six points. The dominance continued and quickly Northeastern had a 10-point lead at 12-2.
Bacon, Bredahl and Tucker all contributed to the offense as the Huskies cruised to a 25-15 victory finishing out the sweep of the Seahawks.
“I thought we worked on our energy and that’s what we achieved today, so that’s a success,” Skiba said. “I definitely think our serves were tough which disrupted their serve receive.”
Bacon was all over the court with 12 kills and nine digs. As usual, Skiba led the defense with 21 digs and Kamenova led the team in assists with 24. Bredahl had the match’s only double-double with 10 kills and 11 assists.
“It’s really important to win these games and our goal is to win the CAAs this year,” Bredahl said. “So every game counts.”
Bredahl was named CAA Rookie of the Week. She had 22 kills and 27 assists in two games and is also leading the team in hitting at .304.
Now that conference play is in full swing, these games are more important for the Huskies to win. They’ll look to bring the momentum to Delaware this weekend.
