By Nathan Vaughan
The volleyball team continued to chip away at its magic number this past weekend, bringing it down to two. Although it lost to Delaware Friday, it was able to bounce back less than 24 hours later and fight off a tough Towson team.
“I think we were a little bit flat, a little bit tired,” said head coach Ken Nichols. “It’s been a long road season. We’ve played way too many road games.”
Northeastern went into the game against the Blue Hens looking to continue its wining streak and promptly went up 4-0. Delaware tied it at eight. The set went back and forth until it was tied at 25, at which point the Huskies made a couple of crucial errors that allowed Delaware to win 27-25.
The second set was much like the first, with both teams refusing to give control of the game to the other. They exchanged points until the 14-14 mark when Delaware went on a 7-3 run. Northeastern was unable to come back from this and lost 25-22.
Delaware continued to play hot over the Huskies jumping to an 8-3 lead immediately. However, Northeastern was unable to get closer than three and lost the set 25-19.
With no time to rebound and a win desperately needed to hold onto the top spot in the conference, the Huskies traveled to Towson for their second game in as many days. In the first set, NU got out to an early 7-3 lead and lead by as much as nine. The Huskies had a series of four set points when up 24-20, but were unable to finish off the Tigers. Towson scored five unanswered to take the lead at 25-24, they then went on to win the set 27-25.
Going into the second set the Huskies had at that point lost four sets in a row. They needed someone to step up and sophomore middle hitter Caitlin Tittl did it with her serves, quickly getting out to a 5-0 lead. Once again Northeastern was able to jump out to a nine point advantage at 24-15. The Tigers did have a 5-0 run but Northeastern held on to win 25-20.
After the mid-game break, the Huskies didn’t lose any of their momentum. In the set, the Tigers were only able to get seven kills, one less than senior captain and outside hitter Lauren DeTurk, while committing six errors. This left them with a .031 hit percentage compared with NU’s .515 mark. With Towson’s inability to generate offense, the Huskies rolled to a 25-11 victory.
Towson refused to give up entering the fourth set, and the Tigers jumped on top early, though the Huskies kept it close. Towson did take an eight-point lead at one point, however, the Huskies bounced back to cut it to one at 23-22. Towson scored the next two points tying up the match by winning 25-22.
In the all-important fifth set the Huskies never trailed. The set was tied at only two points, 12-12 and 14-14. The Huskies proved too much for the Tigers winning 16-14.
The Huskies had many good performances this weekend. Once again DeTurk was dominant, notching 38 kills, 29 digs and three aces. This includes double-doubles both nights and tying a career high in kills Saturday. Senior outside hitter Brianna Seitz also performed admirably, especially against Towson, getting 17 kills, while hitting .375, 10 digs and three aces.
“In Towson I was given lots of opportunities. I found a way to exploit them early,” DeTurk said. “I usually don’t find it that early in the game but I did this time. Our game plan is to find weaknesses and hammer away at it. And after losing four sets in a row we had to stick to game plan.”
Next weekend the Huskies will wrap up the regular season. With their magic number down to two there are a few possible scenarios for clinching home court for the playoffs; the simplest: win both games. They will attempt to do so first against William ‘ Mary Friday at 7 p.m. They then finish the season against VCU Sunday at 1 p.m.
“Our team is pretty confident, but we still have stuff to work on,” said sophomore middle hitter Jillian Robinson. “We know everyone we play will throw everything they have at us because they have nothing to lose.”
