For the Northeastern volleyball team (9-16, 5-11 CAA), the Nov. 14 and 15 games in the Cabot Center held a different energy than previous ones. They marked the end of this season and the last time senior liberos Nadia Koanui and Ellie Williams and graduate student outside hitter Svenja Rodenbüsch would wear Northeastern jerseys as collegiate volleyball players. After the game Nov. 15, players hugged each other with tearful faces, demonstrating how close the team is and how much playing as Huskies meant to them.
“I think it’s special, especially [in front of] an audience, and they had a great last few matches,” head coach Brendan McGourn said. “They’re playing great volleyball, some of the best they’ve played in their careers. Ellie was able to get in a whole bunch last weekend, and she earned it. It wasn’t, ‘Oh, you’re a senior, I’ll get you in.’ She’s been going so hard in the gym and leading whatever side she’s on.”
The losses against the Hofstra University Pride (21-3, 13-3 CAA), the No. 1 team in the CAA, were symbolic of how the rest of the season had gone: the team fought hard and didn’t give up, but just fell short. The Huskies seemed to face endless battles the entire season, and their overall and conference records aren’t reflective of how hard they played.
“It was a lot of great volleyball,”McGourn said. “Some of the younger players stepped up, and Bea’s playing at a whole other level right now, so having her for a whole another year is incredible. Brynn had a good match. Being able to play and execute at a high level with the additional players that we have coming in — the future is very bright for us.”
Junior middle blocker Beatrice Gennari ended the season second in the CAA in hitting percentage and fifth in blocks and earned top five for each main stat on the team other than digs, leading the team in blocks by 48. Koanui was fifth in the conference in average digs per set and second in number of aces. Freshman opposite hitter Emma Rowell was 10th in the CAA and first on the team in average kills per set, and freshman setter Sofia King was first on the team in sets and 10th in the conference — both showing strong performances in their first collegiate season. Rodenbüsch was second on the team in both digs and kills.
The Huskies fell in the first game to the Pride in four sets with scores of 25-15, 26-24, 25-22 and 25-21. Northeastern took the close second set win.
Rowell led the team in kills with 12, Gennari in blocks with seven, King in assists with 18 and Rodenbüschin digs with nine.
The first set started with an exchange of kills between the teams before Hostra pulled ahead. With the Pride up 7-6, a point that was originally awarded to Northeastern was challenged and started Hoftra’s run. The Pride took seven of the next nine points to increase their lead to 15-8. For the rest of the set, the teams matched each other’s moves until, with the score 20-14 Hofstra, the Pride notched five of the next six points to take the set 25-16.
After a not-so-strong performance in the first set, the Huskies were back on the court first out of the break ready to fight. However, the shift in momentum came with sophomore outside hitter Brynn Smith entering the game for the second set. Smith has played in every conference game for the Huskies this season, earning fifth on the team in kills, third in digs and second in aces.
The teams once again exchanged kills before Hofstra hit back-to-back kills to go up 3-1. A kill by Smith gave the Huskies another point on the board to start a run where Northeastern notched four of the next five, taking the lead 5-4.
The Pride were back ahead at 7-5 before another kill by Smith halted them. The teams exchanged two points each before consecutive points put Hofstra ahead 11-8, but three straight points for Northeastern tied it at 11.
The Pride regained the lead at 16-12, and the teams exchanged kills before Gennari knocked a kill and a huge block with freshman opposite hitter Sydney Mayfield to fire up the team.
Hofstra earned a point on a Northeastern hit just out of bounds, followed by kills by Smith and Rodenbüsch as the ball came over the net, forcing Hofstra to use a timeout.
Out of the timeout, another block by Gennari and Mayfield and an ace by Smith put Northeastern up 19-18. Hofstra answered by taking five of the next seven,leading Northeastern to use a timeout of its own.
A kill by Rodenbüsch led the Pride to another timeout, but the Huskies were not looking back. The team took four of the next five points off two kills by Smith, a kill by sophomore middle blocker Zehra Yilmaz and an error by Hofstra, ending the set in Northeastern’s favor, 26-24.
In the third set, the Huskies flew out to a 3-0 lead, forcing Hofstra into a timeout. A block by Gennari and Rowell put the Huskies back ahead by two and sent sophomore setter Gabby Reeves behind the service line. Reeves was a part of the many lineup changes the Huskies made throughout the weekend, with 14 players touching the court. She had 17 digs and a kill throughout the two games.
The Huskies scored three more consecutive points, with Reeves serving before the teams exchanged two points each. Northeastern’s five point lead was cut to 10-8 because of a service error by Smith and back-to-back aces for the Pride.
The back-and-forth action continued as Northeastern slowly grew its lead until, while the Huskies were leading 20-6, Hofstra went on a six-point run, making the score 22-20. A kill and block from Hofstra brought it to set point, 24-21. A bad serve kept Northeastern alive momentarily until a kill ended the set in a 25-22 victory for Hofstra.
Jumping to a 9-5 lead at the start of the set, the remainder saw the score tied or Hofstra just ahead until back-to-back kills put Northeastern ahead 18-17.
The Pride then took five of the next six, forcing McGourn to use a timeout with the score 22-19 Hofstra. Out of the timeout, the teams went point for point until a kill by Hofstra delivered the team’s 25th point of the set, ending 25-21 for a four-set Hofstra win.
The final game was a mix of new and veteran talent showing what they were made of. In Koanui’s last match as a collegiate volleyball player, she led the team in digs with 20 and aces with two. Rowell again led in kills with 13, Gennari led in blocks with four and King had 19 assists. In their last games, Rodenbüsch and Williams had 13.5 points and a dig, respectively.
Not only did the second game have lineup changes reminiscent of the first matchup of the weekend, it also saw players in different positions. Sophomore setter Arina Sosinovica played an outside hitter role, notching two kills and three blocks after redshirt freshman outside hitter Valentina Meirelles rolled her ankle in practice earlier in the week, according to McGourn.
“Sometimes, we’re just trying different things,” McGourn said. “Val had been stepping in to play opposite for us … so we knew we needed to try and get some better blocking — bigger blocks, stronger blocks — so we tried Ari over there, who is normally a setter. But she’s a really good athlete, and she can hit a ball. [Just] trying to slow down their outsides and try different things. We have a lot of versatile players.”
Similar to the close fight of the day before, on the Nov. 15, the Huskies jumped out to a 2-0 lead and maintained it until the Pride went on a four-point streak to lead 9-8. A bad serve for the Pride tied it back up, but the Huskies bounced back with three straight to lead 12-9.
Later on, the Huskies took three in a row to regain the lead, 19-18. The Pride used its first timeout of the set to recollect themselves. Out of the break, the teams went-point-for-point until, with the Huskies leading 21-20, the Pride jumped ahead 24-22, bringing it to set point.
Northeastern used a timeout, and it seemed to be just what the team needed to stay alive. The Huskies answered with four of the next five to bring the score to 26-25. Unfortunately, three straight kills handed Hofstra the 28-26 set win.
Like the day before, the second set was Northeastern’s strongest. The Huskies fired off three kills, an ace and an error by Hofstra to lead 5-0 to start. The Huskies didn’t look back. Back-to-back kills by Rowell gave Northeastern its 23rd and 24th points off the set. A kill by Hofstra kept the team alive for a moment, but a kill by Gennari ended it in a 25-19 set win for Northeastern.
As the third set opened, the teams battled point-for-point until Northeastern tied it at nine, but it was short-lived. The Pride took seven of eight points, four of which were off Northeastern errors, to jump to a 16-10 lead. With the score 19-13, Northeastern took a timeout to figure itself out.
Each move for the rest of the set was matched, with the final blow coming from a Hofstra kill, handing the Pride a 25-19 set win.
In a do-or-die situation for the last game of the season, the Huskies had one of their lowest scoring sets of the season. With Northeastern holding a 3-2 lead, Hofstra’s senior outside hitter Izadora Stedile notched four consecutive kills, followed by two blocks, two kills and an ace by the team to lead 11-3. The teams exchanged points until, with Northeastern trailing 13-6, the Pride took 10, conceding only two, to lead 23-8.
A kill by Rodenbüsch and an ace by Rowell kept the Huskies alive. With the score 24-11, a kill by Hofstra ended the Huskies season in devastating fashion.
Despite the loss and major contributors in the graduating class leaving, the Huskies have much to look forward to for next season. The rotating lineups of the weekend showed just how much depth Northeastern has to build off for next year, and the return of junior middle blocker Kaylin Daniels, who has been out since Nov. 10, is a source of hope.
“Kaylin will be huge,” McGourn said. “[She and Gennari] were in the top 20 nationally in hitting percentage and just absolutely crushing it, so both those guys out of the middle. Brynn coming back as an outside hitter. She had some huge steps in her game and her maturity this year, and then Emma Rowell, just absolutely killing it.”
On top of the key returners, McGourn is confident in the incoming freshman class as well.
“We have a very talented incoming class, so I think the level of athleticism will go up in our gym, our size will go up [with] a lot of tall, athletic players,” McGourn said. “Just looking to continue to build on everything we’ve done, going from ninth statistically in most categories to fourth, and now adding in some bigger, stronger kids. It’s really exciting.”
