College of Charleston
Northern Illinois
Cougars Drop Heartbreaker to NIU
8/29/2010 3:03:00 AM | Volleyball
DeKALB, Ill. - The College of Charleston volleyball team lost a heartbreaker 3-2 against the host, Northern Illinois Huskies at the Northern Illinois Invitational (26-24, 25-15, 25-27, 31-33, 15-7).
Senior Whitney Russell led a balanced effort with 22 kills and 14 digs. Russell was one of four Cougars, along with senior Ginny Phillips and juniors Elyse Chubb and Sarah Havel to tally double-digit kills.
Both Russell and senior Cole Dawley were selected to the Northern Illinois Invitational All-Tournament team.
The Cougars (3-1) narrowly dropped the first set 24-26 and lost the second 15-25. In the third set the team was in trouble again, trailing 14-18, but they battled back and eventually would tie the game at 22-22. The Huskies (4-0) had a match point at 24-23, but Havel connected on a ball from Dawley and tied the game at 24. Russell followed up the kill by Havel with one of her own and the Cougars took control of the set and tallied a 27-25 victory on a block assists from Phillips and Chubb.
The fourth set went back and fourth again with the Huskies trying to win the match and the Cougars trying to force a fifth set. Again, it was Northern Illinois jumping out to a lead at 7-13 and forcing CofC to come back from a deficit. The Huskies took a 20-15 lead in front of their home crowd, but the Cougars refused to go away. Led by kills from Phillips and Russell and two block assists from Chubb the Cougars tied the game at 22. Eventually it would be two Huskie miscues that would end the set with a 33-31 win for CofC.
The Cougars had the momentum going into the fifth set and claimed an early 3-0 lead, but the Huskies matched their energy, scoring the next four points. Northern Illinois, hitting at a .500 efficiency in the set, started to pull away and claimed the match with a 15-7 fifth set victory.
In addition to the strong offensive play, the Cougars also played a great defensive contest, with four players finishing with double-digit digs and the team combining for 22 block assists and two solo blocks.
The Cougars resume action next weekend as they travel to Rock Hill, S.C. for the Carolina Challenge. In addition to a match against host-school Winthrop, the Cougars will battle South Carolina and Clemson.
