By Emily McCarthy, News Correspondent
Following a Friday night loss to the College of William and Mary, the Northeastern volleyball team snapped its two-game losing streak with a sweep of James Madison University Sunday afternoon. The Huskies currently hold second place in the Colonial Athletic Association (CAA) with a 7-3 conference record.
Freshman setter Jamie Bredahl once again filled the stat sheet as she posted her fourth triple-double of the season in the Huskies’ 2-3 (25-21, 25-21, 23-25, 17-25, 9-15) loss to William and Mary. She tallied 11 digs, 15 kills and 25 assists. Bredahl then notched a double-double in the 3-0 (25-23, 25-20, 27-25) sweep of James Madison with 10 digs, nine kills and 20 assists.
“Jamie kept us in the match at William & Mary,” head coach Ken Nichols said. “Ava [Cramp] was outstanding against JMU. It’s stuff that I’ve heard the Patriots say, it’s stuff that I’ve heard the Red Sox say: any given night we’re getting contributions from a number of people.”
William & Mary jumped out to a 5-3 lead to begin the first set of Friday’s match. The two teams battled to a tie at the 11-point mark before two straight Husky points gave Northeastern a 13-11 lead. NU went up 24-19 and eventually captured the first set 25-21 on a kill by junior middle hitter Ava Cramp.
The second set began with strong play from William and Mary. The Tribe took a 14-12 advantage before Northeastern came from behind to lead the set 18-16 and forced William and Mary to call a timeout. Coming out of the huddle, the Tribe went on a 5-1 run, but the Huskies scored the next six consecutive points and won the second set 25-21.
Before Friday night, Northeastern had been undefeated this season when leading two sets to none, but this match was far from over.
The Tribe went into the third set hoping to avoid a sweep and came out with a 25-23 win over the Huskies. The Tribe also captured the fourth set by a decisive 25-17 score to force a fifth and final set.
NU grabbed the first point of the elimination set with a kill from Bredahl, but William and Mary took a 9-8 lead and only allowed one Husky point the remainder of the set. The Tribe won the set 15-9 and won the match 3-2.
The Huskies looked to put the loss behind them as they shifted their focus to Sunday’s bout with James Madison.
“I think we really just had a dip in our confidence level,” Cramp said. “Clearly we beat William & Mary in the first two games, and pretty handily. I think we just definitely kind of got lax and let things slide, but on Saturday we really refocused and we had a discussion where it was like, we clearly have the ability to do this and we’re just hurting ourselves.”
Northeastern took a commanding 8-3 advantage over James Madison to begin the first set. But seven straight points from the Dukes gave them a 10-8 lead and forced Northeastern to take a timeout. The Huskies eventually went up 21-20 and although JMU tied the set twice, they never regained the lead and Northeastern won the opening set 25-23.
The second set was more of the same for NU as they grabbed an early lead and never let up. The Dukes tied the set four different times but were unable to take down the Huskies. Northeastern captured the second set by a 25-20 score and found themselves in a familiar situation.
“After we won the second game against James Madison on Sunday, you could tell there was this defining moment where we could either slip back into that pattern where we’re losing the third game or we really step it up and turn this around,” Cramp said.
The third set began with strong back and forth action. The Huskies eventually took an 18-14 lead but four straight points from JMU tied the set at 18 and forced a Husky timeout. James Madison went up 24-23 but Northeastern fought off the set point and closed out the set with a 4-1 run. The Huskies won the set 27-25 and won the match 3-0.
“JMU asked us to play them on a Sunday,” Nichols said, lauding his team’s ability to bounce back from Friday’s loss. “We had a practice day on Saturday and what we really talked about was winning that close set. And the irony was all three sets were really close at the end. So I’m very proud of them. They did exactly what we were focusing on.”
Northeastern wraps up their five-game road trip this weekend when they take on the University of North Carolina Wilmington on Friday and the College of Charleston on Sunday. Charleston currently holds the top spot in the CAA with a perfect 10-0 conference record.
“Charleston’s definitely our toughest competition in the conference and we’re really excited to play them,” Cramp said. “We’re really determined after coming off this weekend where we had a boost in confidence this past match. I think we can really can use that to our advantage this weekend and really take it to both of them.”
