By Tim Foley, news staff

The Northeastern women’s volleyball team traveled to South Bend, Ind., last weekend for a three-match tournament. While the Huskies struggled against their first two opponents, they won the last match in a five-set thriller. Following the tournament, the team headed north and defeated the University of New Hampshire (UNH)  in four sets on Tuesday.

The Huskies came into the Shamrock Invitational after losing their home opener to the University of Rhode Island in four sets. It appeared that some of the mistakes from last week’s game carried over to Friday’s match against the University of Northern Iowa as the Huskies found themselves in an early hole. Northeastern’s head coach, Ken Nichols said he knew that competing at the invitational would be a challenge.

“These were monster teams,” Nichols said. “These are programs that have a steeped tradition in competing at the highest level.”

Despite a hard fought third set, including seven kills from sophomore setter Jamie Bredahl, the Huskies lost 3-0 to Northern Iowa.

On Saturday, the Northeastern women faced the host team, University of Notre Dame. The Huskies dropped the first two sets and were tied at 20 in the third. Northeastern pulled away to win the set, but faced an early deficit in the fourth, and fell 25-17. The loss to Notre Dame extended NU’s losing streak to three games.

A bright spot in the match for the Huskies was freshman setter Kristen Walding, who posted her career high in assists with 30. Nichols explained the increased responsibility for Walding.

“We switched from a 6-2 to a 5-1,” Nichols said. “Five hitters and one setter. Switching to the 5-1 allowed Walding to play all around.”

The Huskies returned to the court Saturday afternoon for a match against Texas Christian University (TCU) – the final match of the tournament.

Northeastern struggled to find a rhythm and dropped the first two sets. However, the Huskies showed signs of resilience as they scored the first five points and won the third set.

“We just tried to switch our mindset,” Walding said. “We were just trying to go really aggressive, and we tried to play fearlessly, and it ended up working out for us.”

The Huskies rolled into the fourth set with momentum and jumped out to a 10-point lead – a lead which was forged by error-free serving and clean passing from the back line. Freshman outside hitter Brigitte Burcescu landed 10 kills, and the match was evened at two sets apiece.

“Rarely in my career have I seen a team – especially in the fourth set – be absolutely unstoppable,” Nichols said.

Nichols, who has been head coach of the Huskies for 12 years, said he “got goose bumps” from watching the team play.

In the final set, the Northeastern front line had a strong performance, with kills from six different attackers. A kill from senior middle hitter Alexa Armstrong won the set for Northeastern, and the Huskies completed the five-set comeback. Nichols commented on the team’s adjustment to the 5-1 rotation.

“It’s hard to switch in the middle of a tournament, so getting up to speed against Notre Dame was a little awkward,” Nichols said. “As we moved on into that last match, you could see them start to feel comfortable.”

In Tuesday’s match at UNH, the Huskies maintained the chemistry and comfort from the end of the TCU game. After losing the first set 25-21, the Huskies held the Wildcats to fewer than 16 points in the following three sets. The final set ended in complete domination by Northeastern with a score of 25-9.

Senior defensive specialist Megan Kehoe had 14 digs – her season high – and the Huskies won the match 3-1. Setter Bredahl added 21 digs of her own. All 14 players on the Northeastern roster saw playing time.

Until Tuesday’s game, UNH was riding a 10-game win streak at home.

The Huskies will return home to play against Boston College in the Cabot Center at 7 p.m. on Friday.

Photo by Jim Pierce, Northeastern Athletics