By Jewel Della Valle
Northeastern climbed another rung on the Colonial Athletic Association ladder with two conference wins last weekend, surpassing then second-place William ‘ Mary with a 3-1 win Friday night to claim a share of second with George Mason. The Huskies also took down Virginia Commonwealth in four games Saturday night.
A win in Friday’s match at William ‘ Mary (12-12, 7-4 CAA) was vital for the Huskies (15-12, 7-3 CAA) to keep their hopes of hosting this year’s conference championship alive. They were able to take control of the match by squeaking out wins in games one and two (30-26, 30-27). Northeastern let its guard down in game three, falling 30-27 to the Tribe, but came back strong in game four, winning it 30-23 and taking the match victory.
“We realized that we were in control for most part of the match, which led to winning games one and two and kind of let up a little bit in game three,” said senior captain Kira Batura. “We kind of learned from that, that you can’t step off the gas, you’ve just got to keep going until you win.”
Northeastern’s offense was headed by Batura, junior outside hitter Lauren DeTurk and freshman middle hitter Caitlin Tittl. Batura and DeTurk had double-doubles with a match-high 20 kills apiece, while Batura tied for the match-high with 29 digs, and DeTurk had 24 digs. Tittl tallied 16 kills and a match-high .389 attacking percentage.
Both of the Huskies’ regular setters had productive nights with double-doubles as well, with freshman Britney Brown racking up a team-high 35 assists and 12 digs, while also tallying seven kills, and Jessica Tkachuk contributed 27 assists and 17 digs.
“It felt good to win because we knew going into this weekend that every match counts now for us,” Batura said. “In the back of our minds, [we knew] just last week William ‘ Mary was No. 1 in the conference. We go into this match and we end up taking them to four games and we end up winning the match. It’s definitely a great morale boost for the team.”
The Huskies took the momentum from Friday night’s win into their match with VCU (8-17, 4-7 CAA) Saturday, and snuck past the Rams for wins in games one and two (30-27, 30-27). In game two, Batura went down with a foot injury and had to come out of the match, enabling VCU to win game three, 30-27. But Northeastern’s depth showed as it came back with a strong win in game four, without its captain on the court, by a score of 30-17 for the match victory.
The Huskies repeated the same slip-up Saturday they had in game three versus William ‘ Mary, Batura said.
“It’s the same thing, just letting up and going through the motions and knowing that everyone on the team does believe that we’re better than the other team, but it’s actually performing to that level that we need to do constantly,” she said. “When we let up that lets the other team back in.”
DeTurk racked up another double-double with a match-high 14 kills and 14 digs. Tkachuk and sophomore libero Leah Neubeck had match-highs as well, with Tkachuk taking home 26 assists and Neubeck tallying 22 digs. Brown and Tittl contributed nine and 10 kills, respectively, while Brown tallied 21 assists. Junior opposite Sarah Stein led all players with a .400 attacking percentage.
Batura, the team’s only senior, said she’s unsure whether her foot will be healed enough for Senior Weekend, which takes place as the Huskies face off against UNC-Wilmington (8-20, 1-10 CAA) Friday and Georgia State (15-12, 5-6 CAA) Saturday. Both matches are at Solomon Court and begin at 7 p.m.
“We’re just being cautious now because
