By Nathan Vaughan

Northeastern volleyball shined in its first two home matches of the year, winning in straight sets over cross-town rival Boston College and Holy Cross, to capture the Mass Challenge at Solomon Court Saturday. The Huskies are now on a three-game winning streak, winning their last nine sets after struggling at the beginning of the season.

“Winning is the Red Bull of our era. The kids get all fired up and wired,” said head coach Ken Nichols.

The Huskies opened the tournament with the early match against BC. The Eagles at first seemed to have control, but NU rallied back mostly because of the outstanding serving performance of senior outside hitter Brianna Seitz. The return of senior opposite hitter Sarah Stein, who had been out recovering from an emergency jaw surgery, also played a major role in the set. The Huskies won the set, 25-21.

The second set opened with Northeastern taking control. BC was able to make a small run but NU held on. The Huskies out-hit the Eagles by nearly .100 with a .333 percentage. BC came back late to tighten the score but ultimately fell again, 25-21.

“Our offense in this match tricked the block a little bit. I was one-on-one a lot. So that’s everyone. It’s the setter and the middle drawing,” said senior captain and outside hitter Lauren DeTurk.

The third set was a back-and-forth affair that, at one point, was knotted up at 17. The Huskies then went on a 3-0 run to take the lead 20-17. BC continued to fight, but the combination of their errors and the great play of sophomore middle hitter Jillian Robinson, who came up with two solo blocks and a kill, was too much for the Eagles to overcome as NU captured the third set 25-22.

Northeastern took a couple of hours off before its match against Holy Cross. During the break, the Crusaders lost to BC in straight sets.

Holy Cross held an early four point lead in the first set with Northeastern, but the Huskies were too much for the Crusaders to handle. NU had only one hitting error in the match, posting a .382 percentage. With the help of more of Seitz’s great serving, the Huskies had a 6-0 run to negate the Holy Cross lead. DeTurk served for eight straight points to close out the set for a 25-16 win.

The Crusaders remained strong as they led early in the second set, but couldn’t keep up with a strong NU squad. The Huskies’ biggest run was their 7-0 streak to knock Holy Cross out of the set. The Crusaders managed to bring it closer, but their nine hitting errors cost them as NU took the second set by a 25-18 count.

As the Huskies entered the third set, they had yet to control a set from beginning to end. This set, however, was all Northeastern. NU ran Holy Cross off the court, scoring 16 of the first 20 points, and led by as many as 15. Nichols also decided to clear his bench during this set, putting in all his reserves except freshman middle hitter Lauryn Ciszec, who has missed the last six matches with an illness.

“We are more confident that we will be winning some more matches after [the Mass Challenge],” Seitz said. “You always feel better once you win and we are still learning lessons. You don’t have to lose to learn the lessons. Now we are doing it with wins.”

Along with winning the tournament, the Huskies placed two members, DeTurk and Seitz, on the All-Tournament team. DeTurk had 14 kills along with 20 digs and two service aces. Seitz was also dominant with 12 kills, five service aces and 13 digs.

Senior Sarah Stein earned MVP honors. In her first two matches back after the surgery, Stein, who had only practiced for a day and a half and was, as of this weekend, still on a liquid diet, led the team with 16 kills while posting a .412 hitting percentage.

“It’s nice, it’s not something I expected,” Stein said. “I wanted to play really hard. I played my game.”

Tomorrow night, the Huskies (5-7) face off against the New Hampshire at 7 p.m. in Durham, N.H. This will be the final match before NU begins play in the Colonial Athletic Association Sept. 27 on the road against Hofstra. Northeastern will not play at home again until October 17 when it battles Georgia State.