By Ari Strait
Consecutive victories for Northeastern’s volleyball team last weekend kept the Huskies just one game behind the University of New Hampshire Wildcats in the America East fight for first place. The victories came against Stony Brook University and Hartford University.
This past Saturday, the Huskies (15-14, 7-2) traveled to Long Island in an attempt to avenge a previous home loss to the Stony Brook Seawolves (18-12, 4-5). Northeastern dropped the first game of the match, 30-28, but an aggressive, solid defensive performance led to wins in each of the next three games and a 3-1 match decision.
Stony Brook’s larger size and physical presence gave them a brief advantage, but it was quickly neutralized by the Huskies’ well-rounded athleticism.
“If you look at that first game, we had 14 kills, and 14 errors. They play well above the net. They take big swings, but we just had a good, balanced defensive effort,” said head coach Ken Nichols.
Five different Husky players finished with double-digit dig totals, and the team finished with 95 in the four game match, compared to Stony Brook’s 76.
Due to the enormous defensive pressure applied by the Huskies, the Seawolves had only two players tally more than 10 kills, and ended the day with a total team hitting percentage of just .073.
Junior setter Kristin Ursillo once again paced the offense, and with 9 kills, a team-high 19 digs, and 45 assists, fell just one kill short of her first triple-double of the season. Seniors Lindsay Wagner and Erin Spangler along with sophomore Rebecca Holland, combined for 37 kills, more than any four Seawolves combined. Ursillo and Holland also chipped in three aces each.
Friday’s match against the Hartford University Hawks (13-13, 3-6) mirrored the first match these two teams had together this season, as Northeastern blanked the Hawks 3-0.
Freshman Larissa Adomat continued to excel, finishing the three game match with 12 kills and only one error in 20 attempts for a team and match high hitting percentage of .550. Spangler was right behind her, as her 13 kills and 2 errors in 21 attempts left her with a .524 percentage for the day.
Ursillo, who tallied 43 of the team’s 45 assists, directed an offense that finished with a .316 percentage as a whole, 133 points better than the .183 percentage with which the Hawks finished.
Nichols was very pleased with both the team’s effort as a whole and Adomat’s consistent success.
“She’s got a perfect balance of talent. She’s obviously got the size and the quickness, but also the intangibles: core presence, peripheral vision, common sense, coaching ability. Towards the third game we found more weaknesses, we got more aggressive. We were a little conservative. We talked about the courage factor. If you’re gonna lose, you’re gonna lose swinging,” he said.
New Hampshire also defeated both Stony Brook and Hartford this weekend, and remain atop the America East standings with a 8-1 conference record. Northeastern’s 7-2 record has them one step behind at second, but well ahead of the team’s next opponent, the University of Albany, who’s 4-4 record has them in third place.
