By Ari Strait
The Huskies’ winning ways continued over the weekend, catapulting them into an America East first-place tie with the University of New Hampshire. NU accomplished this feat with a 3-0 sweep of the University of Maine on the Bears’ home court last Sunday in Orono, Maine.
It was the Huskies’ (11-13, 3-1) third consecutive win and the Black Bears’ (6-16, 0-4) fifth consecutive loss. A defensively-oriented match, the Huskies had three different players finish with double-digit dig totals and more than twice as many blocks as the Black Bears, despite missing senior defensive expert Kelly Cognac.
Northeastern head coach Ken Nichols was not surprised at all to see his defense hold up, even without its leader.
“It certainly was a defensive match. They threw three different lineups against us, which gave them a little more offensive punch, but there’s a lot of good defense all the way through the roster. Defense is something we’ve concentrated on and we’re starting to see dividends,” he said.
As usual, junior setter Kristin Ursillo directed the offense, finishing with 32 assists in the three game match, and adding five service aces of her own. Freshman Larissa Adomat, named America East rookie of the week for the second time this season, tallied a team-high 12 kills, but senior Lindsay Wagner probably had the most well-rounded performance of all, notching 10 kills, five aces and 13 digs.
Northeastern steamrolled through the first two games, winning them 30-18 and 30-19 respectively. The third game was significantly more challenging, as the Black Bears mixed up their lineup a bit and led 26-23 before falling 30-28.
Maine went back and forth using freshman Ashley Marble and sophomore Carmen Gabriel to set, and the Huskies had to use some adjustments. Carmen is a significant player, as she was an AE all-rookie team selection last year.
“It took us out of our game a little bit,” said Nichols.
Indeed, the Black Bears spread out their offense more than the Huskies did. Gabriel finished with 17 of her team’s 30 assists, and Marble with eight more, as opposed to Ursillo finishing with 32 of the Huskies’ 36 assists. Gabriel also had eight kills, good for second most on the Black Bears, and a team high 18 digs.
However, according to Ursillo, the win came from a combination of her own and Wagner’s serving success, and the Huskies’ overpowering middle attacks.
“A lot of it came from the service lane. The other team’s service was really off. We just played more aggressively. We both jump-serve, and they had a lot of trouble returning them. In that third game, we played their game a little while. But they couldn’t stop our middle hitters. I think our last six points were sets to our middles,” she said.
Next weekend features back to back home matches against the University of Binghamton and University of Albany, and a rematch against New Hampshire at Durham, the first of five consecutive road matches.
