By Ari Strait

The Northeastern volleyball team returned from their six-game, two-tournament West Coast travels having faced some of the stiffest competition expected out of any opponents all year long. The preseason matches began at the end of August, with consecutive losses at the California State-Northridge Invitational on Aug. 29 and 30. An independent match against the University of California-Irvine resulted in the team’s third loss, and then the Huskies lost the first two matches of the Loyola Marymount Invitational before closing out their road trip with a win in the third. The 1-5 (0-0 in Amerca East) start is statistically the worst since the 2000, when the team lost their first seven matches before finally securing a victory. However, while in an objective sense this trip may seem unsuccessful, coach Ken Nichols has a different point of view. “Productive is a good word,” he said. “The girls played at a very high level. The competition was predicted to be extremely strong and turned out to be even better. But I think they’ve got very good persepective. We make a grand effort to talk about the reality of Division 1, and how competitive differenet conferences are.” The one win the team earned came in the form of a three game sweep of the Creighton University Blue Jays. Creighton, from the Missouri Valley Conference, dropped all three games they played in the tournament, and fell to 2-4, on the season. While both teams finished with lower than average hitting percentages, .094 for the Huskies and a .078 mark for the Blue Jays, it was the 32 hitting errors committed by Creighton that allowed Northeastern to walk away with the victory. “We were executing about 85 percent of the time: a good solid B is not good enough to win here,” Nichols said. “We needed to be doing A-plus work with LMU and Eastern Washington. Creighton was our first A level match. We pushed the tempo, we passed well, and served tough. The right combination of essential skills.” The Loyola Marymount University Lions, now ranked 22 in the nation, and the Eastern Washington University Eagles, a team who just missed being ranked in USA Today’s preseason top 25 rankings, both handed the Huskies 3-0 defeats to open the tournament. The Lions, who defeated the Eagles in four games in the invitational championship match, are now 7-0, including an upset of the then 7th ranked team in the nation, the UC Santa Barbara Gauchos. The Eagles, meanwhile, picked to repeat their Big Sky Conference championship, dropped to 3-4. One shining moment from the tournament was the play of junior outside hitter Jana Kubalova, who totaled 25 kills and 22 digs for the three matches. Kubalova won recognition for her efforts and was placed on the all-tournament team, along with one player each from Creighton and Eastern Washington, and two Lions. “We counted on Jana a lot last year to come through as an outside hitter,” Nichols said. “She was solid player for us, but now her consistency is higher, her game has gotten stonger, and she’s much more coachable. It makes her a much a better player.” The team’s match against the University of California-Irvine Anteaters on September 3 featured 13-kill performances by junior Rebecca Holland and sophomore Larissa Adomat, but it was not enough, as the Huskies fell in four games. The Anteaters 3-1 win was paced by juniors Kelly Wing and Sami Cash, who had 22 and 20 kills respectively. In fact, four UC-Irvine players combined for 69 of the team’s 71 total kills. On the defensive side of the ball, this marked the third consecutive match in which the Huskies finished with comparable dig totals, but were significantly out-matched at the net. The Anteaters had 18 assisted blocks on the day, while the Huskies managed only two. Nichols pointed out most of the discrepency was attributable to the regional differences. “Around here we see two types of teams. We have big blocking, aggressive hitting teams that can’t handle the ball, or small, scrappy teams that pass well but can’t help you at the net,” he said. “All of these West Coast teams were good all the way through. They had some really big, athletic kids that were capable all the way around. We were looking for a weakness, and it certainly isn’t at the net.” The season opened with a two-day, two match tournament held at California State University’s Northridge campus. Although the Huskies were swept 3-0 by both the Matadors of Cal-State and the St. Mary’s College Gaels, Nichols was provided with his first opportunity to see his team perform together on the court. “I was very pleased by the play of Kristin Ursillo. Shannon Brooker really stepped up, and Rebecca Holland had a nice weekend as well,” he said. “It all bodes well for the future. We have tremendous depth, and it’s putting a lot of pressure on the players to execute each time. We talked about putting our egos in our pockets and rooting for each other. Let’s just try to stay fresh by using our depth and be happy when others succeed.” Northeastern will enter the New England Challenege this upcoming weekend for the fourth consecutive year, with matches against Colgate University, Towson University and Furman University. While the teams change every year, the Huskies have defeated this year’s host Colgate each of the last two times the teams have met, and Nichols’ squad also defeated ex-America East participant Towson University the last time these two squared off. “I look to Friday night to be a nice opener, as I think we can beat Colgate, and use the matches against Towson and Furman to see how we stand in the region,” Nichols said.