The University of Akron Athletics
University of Akron
Northern Illinois
Volleyball falls in five set heartbreaker at Northern Illinois
October 13 | Women's Volleyball
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DEKALB, Ill. – Akron came out of the gate swinging but ran out of steam in a five set marathon at Northern Illinois, falling 25-23, 18-25, 25-18, 23-25, 10-15.
The Zips put up big numbers across the board, especially on the defensive end, to give their opponents all they could handle for the second night in a row. Four Akron players posted double-digit digs – Alex Cocklin, Ashley Holder and Chelsea Harvey all finished with 17 and Jill Paluch ended the night with 16.
Cocklin and Harvey picked up their third double-doubles of the season with 17 and 10 kills to pace the Akron offense. Tina Dimitrijevs added 11 kills and Morgan Kuhn tallied 44 assists.
UA began the match without a trace of Friday night's setback, lighting up the court with a .324 hitting percentage in the first set compared to NIU's .273 on the way to the first win of the night.
Northern Illinois evened the score in the second set as the Zips began to fall behind midway through the period. Akron's fearful front line of Paiton Twitty, Dimitrijevs and Cocklin teamed up to make a run at the Huskies late, cutting the deficit to five at 18-23, but Northern answered with back-to-back points out of a timeout to lock up the set.
Under the serve of Holder, Akron sprinted out to a 5-0 lead to start the third set and shake up the Huskies. It was a lead the Zips would never give up, keeping their distance by capitalizing on NIU errors and cruising to a 2-1 advantage.
Akron found itself in a nine point hole in the fourth set at 13-22 when it exploded for eight unanswered points to make it 21-22. Mary Delich and Kelsey Wilson combined for a huge block-assist to deny the Huskies' first set point, but an NIU kill on the next play would be enough to extend the match to a fifth and final set.
Once again, the Zips built momentum early, taking a quick 6-3 lead, but this time it wouldn't stick. The score tied at six and then again at 10 before Northern pulled away with the set and the match on three Akron hiccups.
UA (10-10, 3-5 MAC) will return home for the first time this month next weekend. The Zips host Eastern Michigan on Friday, Oct. 19 at 7 p.m. and Central Michigan on Saturday, Oct. 20 at 5 p.m. at Rhodes Arena.
