By By Nathan Vaughan, News Staff

‘This was maybe one of the worst losses in NU volleyball history.’
That’s what head coach Ken Nichols said following a disappointing 3-1 loss to the University of New Hampshire in Northeastern’s second home game of the season. It broke a four-game winning streak against UNH ‘- Nichols had never lost at home to the Wildcats.
The Huskies came out roaring in the first set, racing to a 10-4 lead. After that point they would not lead by less than four in the set, though they managed to stay ahead of UNH. Senior co-captain setter and opposite hitter Jessica Tkachuk led the Huskies with five kills and two aces. Northeastern took the set 25-19.
The second set started with back-and-forth scoring until the 4-4 mark. UNH then got the lead at 5-4 and never looked back, leading by as much as six in the set. UNH took the set 25-20 to even the match. In this set, NU had six service errors and no aces. The offense also struggled dropping the hitting percentage by about .070.
‘If you miss your serves you can’t score true points,’ Nichols said. ‘What happens when you serve out the other team realizes they can go higher risk at the service line. If they are going to serve it out we have been serving kind of easy so lets dial it up. In the second game [UNH] really stepped it up at the service line mixing up long and short. And on the other side we are struggling and became timid and served easy.’
NU had a sluggish start to the third set allowing UNH to gain a lead early. Nichols was forced to take a time-out with the Huskies trailing 9-6. But the Wildcats held on to their momentum after the break, getting multiple breaks to build their lead up to 14-7 when Nichols was pushed into taking his final timeout. The Wildcats’ strong play continued as they built their lead to 19-10 before NU started to come back. However, the attempt was not enough as UNH held on with relative ease to take the set 25-16 and take a dangerous 2-1 lead.
The fourth and final set started off with an NU serving error followed by a Wildcat ace. Things continued downhill as UNH got break after break to build up a 11-5 lead before Nichols was once again forced to take a timeout. For the second set in a row Nichols had to take his final timeout quickly after the first, this time with the Huskies trailing 15-7. Things didn’t click for the Huskies as the deficit kept growing with UNH leading by as many as 12 before taking the fourth set 25-14 and the match 3-1.
The loss dropped the Huskies to a 5-9 record to end non-conference play.
This Saturday the team begins a grueling Colonial Athletic Association (CAA) schedule by hosting long-time rival Hofstra. Hofstra had exclusively owned this match until last year. In the first meeting in Long Island last year, the Huskies broke a 16-match losing streak to the Pride and gained only their third win all-time against Hofstra, and the first win for Nichols in the series. In the return match Hofstra beat NU on Solomon court during the regular season.
They met for one last time in the CAA championships which were hosted by Northeastern. The Huskies won that match in a straight set sweep making all of the players and coaches the first in Northeastern history to ever gain multiple victories over the Pride in their careers. The all-time record stands at 31-4 currently in the favor of the Pride. They play at 7 p.m. on Solomon Court.