NKU-Evansville box score |
NKU-Miami box score
OXFORD, Ohio –
Jayden Julian and
Mel Stewart each recorded career marks for the Northern Kentucky University volleyball team in a 3-1 (25-23, 20-25, 25-17, 25-17) victory over Evansville on Saturday afternoon.
Julian led the Norse (2-3) with 18 kills, topping her previous career best of 14 set last weekend against Xavier, and attacked at a .304 clip while Stewart had 18 digs, besting the 15-dig mark she set on Tuesday against Wright State.
Jenna Ruble added 15 kills while
Kaela Jo Freppon notched her first double-double of the season with 13 kills and 17 digs.
Taylor Snyder added 55 assists and
Anna Prickel chipped in 17 digs on the match.
Set 1 saw the Norse race out to a 6-1 lead on the strength of Ruble's three kills in the early going. Evansville (2-3) battled back twice, finally knotting the set and briefly taking the lead, 23-22. The middles picked it back up for the Norse, as Ruble and
Keely Creamer, who had six kills on a .545 hitting percentage, combined for a set-closing 3-0 run. NKU totaled 20 kills in the opening stanza, the most for a single set thus far in the 2013 season.
Much like NKU did in the opening set, Evansville jumped on an early 8-2 advantage, keyed by three consecutive kills by Emma Roberson, to put the Norse on their heels. NKU responded with a 10-3 run of their own, claiming a 12-11 lead and holding steady until Ashley Ring picked up three of her match-high 19 kills for the Purple Aces to spur a 6-3 run, helping to secure a set victory and knot the match.
Julian's back-to-back kills in Set 3 nudged along a 5-0 run that gave the Norse the distance they needed to hold on for a 25-17 set victory in a stanza that saw a combined 14 attack errors between the teams. The difference came on six service errors by the Purple Aces, who couldn't sustain the rally needed to catch up to the Norse.
Julian and Freppon came alive in the match's final set, combining for 13 kills, as did Steward, who picked up eight of her digs in Set 4, helped put the victory away for NKU. A 6-1 run in the early going gave the Norse a 9-5 lead that they would not relinquish.
In the nightcap, Meg Riley turned in a triple-double, collecting 15 kills, 32 assists and 12 digs to spur on a come-from-behind victory for Miami (Ohio) over NKU, 24-26, 26-28, 25-22, 25-21,15-13, to close out play in the Miami Invitational on Saturday.
Jenny Ingle's 21 kills and 10 total blocks helped power the comeback for the RedHawks, who moved to 5-0 with the victory. NKU had not lost a match after being up 2-0 since Oct. 5, 2006, when SIU Edwardsville defeated the Norse in Regents Hall.
Tristen Simpson got things going for NKU by getting the first three kills of the match and closed things out with the final kill of a 26-24, Set 1 victory. The freshman totaled six of her team-leading 21 kills in the first set to lead the Norse, who turned the tide in the set late on a long rally point delivered by a key dig and a kill by
Kaela Jo Freppon, who had four kills in the set, but had to leave the match with an injury during Set 2.
The Norse fought through service reception issues in the second stanza, as the RedHawks amassed four aces, but the early 4-1 lead followed by a 6-1 run helped push an early 10-6 advantage as NKU held on for a 28-26 set victory. Ruble's five kills on the set led the way, Creamer got a key block late and
Megan Wanstrath put home the winning point.
The RedHawks turned things back in their favor after the intermission, as Miami came back to take a 25-22 victory in Set 3, keyed off a five-kill performance by Meg Riley. The RedHawks had four blocks in the set to help the cause. An 8-2 run early set the tone in fourth stanza as Miami claimed a 25-21 win to set up the final set.
Miami scored the first three points of the final set, but NKU rallied with four of its own, punctuated by two blocks and a kill by Ruble. The teams traded point-for-point to 13-13, when Ingle, who finished with a team-high 21 kills for the RedHawks, put down a shot to the middle of the court. The Norse couldn't get a service return on the ensuing point and the match went to the home team.
"This was a tough one to lose," said head coach
Liz Hart. "We got a lot of touches on balls and did a good job of playing out of system. Consistency is going to be a big thing for us, not letting down or digging ourselves a big hole. When we did dig our hole, we did a good job coming back, we just couldn't put the match away.
"We are a young team, so we'll use this to learn and grow and hopefully get better."
Julian and Snyder each recorded double-doubles on the night: Julian had 13 kills and 11 digs, while Snyder recorded 54 assists and 18 digs. Wanstrath had a career night, posting 13 kills and five total blocks, while Prickel came close to a career match of her own, adding 23 digs. Julian and Ruble, who had 14 kills and a team-best six total blocks, were named to the Miami Invitational all-tournament team.
The Norse, now 2-4 on the season, will get back to action next weekend at the University of Cincinnati Invitational. NKU will open the tournament on Friday against Navy at 4:30 p.m. The tournament will wrap up on Saturday against the host Bearcats at 2 p.m., followed by a match against NCAA Tournament participant Cleveland State at 7 p.m.
