Box score
JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – Northern Kentucky University's
Jenna Ruble pounded home 13 kills and added a career-high eight blocks to lead the Norse to a 3-2 (23-25, 17-25, 25-21, 25-19, 15-12) victory over Jacksonville in Atlantic Sun Conference play on Friday night.
The win moved the Norse to 19-4 overall and 7-3 in A-Sun play. It was NKU's first five-set win of the season and the first time NKU has rallied back from a 2-0 deficit to win a match since defeating North Alabama on Sept. 5, 2009.
Kelly Morrissey shared the team lead for the Norse with 13 kills, while
Kylee Tarantino picked up 20 digs and
Jenna Schreiver collected her seventh double-double of the season, dishing out 50 assists and adding 11 digs.
The Dolphins were led by Sammie Strausbaugh, who had 16 kills. Gabriela Roman added 15 kills to help pace the Jacksonville offense. Kendall Courtney collected 16 digs to lead the defense.
NKU appeared to be in control early in Set 1, racing out to an 11-7 lead to force an early Jacksonville timeout to regroup. The Dolphins did just that, rattling off a 10-3 run, with five of those points coming on Norse errors, to close out the 25-23 set victory.
Set 2 hinged on a six-point swing early on, when Jacksonville used a 10-4 run to push to a 17-9 lead. The Norse never recovered, hitting just .079 on the set. After intermission, Jacksonville appeared to be cruising to a sweep, racing out to a 12-8 lead in Set 3 before the Norse responded with an 8-2 run of their own and never looked back, winning the set by a 25-21 score.
NKU picked up the defense in Set 4, using four blocks and 14 digs to hold the Dolphins to a negative attack percentage on the set.
Haley Lippert picked up four of her 12 kills on the match, including a pair during an 8-1 run, giving the Norse a four-point lead that they would expand to six by the end of the set.
Set 5 saw the teams trade points up to 10-10, with
Gennie Galfano adding three of her nine kills on the night to help the Norse keep pace. A 4-1 run broke the set open for NKU, keyed off a Ruble solo block on Kylie Jacob's attack. Ruble would also get the match's final kill for a Norse win.
NKU goes for its 20th consecutive 20-win season on Saturday afternoon at North Florida. First serve is scheduled for 3 p.m.
