CHICAGO – Northern Kentucky volleyball got a needed win on Saturday evening, taking down UIC on the road in straight sets, 25-14, 25-23, 25-23. With the win, NKU moves on to 11-12 overall and 7-7 in Horizon League contests, while UIC drops to 17-10 (8-6 HL).
First Set Summary
- UIC and NKU looked to be evenly matched in the first 20 points of the opening set, but the Norse quickly jumped out to a 19-13 advantage over the Flames.
- The Norse ended the frame on a six-point run, with Laura Crawford recording two of her three kills in the span. Haley Libs served up back-to-back aces to close out the set.
- Shelby Olsen ran an extremely balanced offense with her 12 assists, as four Norse had three kills in the set.
- NKU hit .455 while UIC was held to .038. The Norse only needed 22 attacks to pick up the set win, terminating on 13 of them.
- Bailey Western assisted on three of NKU's four blocks, while the Flames only recorded one rejection.
Second Set Summary
- The Norse opened up the second set on a 5-1 run to hold off the Flames, but UIC's Kyisha Hunt helped tie the contest up at 14-14. NKU extended back out until a pair of errors brought the Flames within a point. A service error gave NKU set point, and Western capped things off with a kill.
- Crawford and Western both had four kills in the set with no errors, while Crawford added four digs to her stat line as did Libs and McKenzie Eskridge.
Third Set Summary
- Libs played a big role in preventing a fourth set, with eight kills on 16 swings. Four of her kills came in the last six points of the contest.
- UIC held a two-point lead for the better half of the set's back half until two kills from Libs tied it up at 23-23. Libs put down one more for good measure before the match ended on a UIC hitting error.
- Crawford had an impressive defensive set with nine digs, while Eskridge and Ashton Terrill added six digs each.
Norse Notes
- NKU nearly accomplished a feat that had not been done since the beginning of the season, but was previously not accomplished in over a decade. That feat would have been having two attackers with a double-double in a sweep. Crawford had 10 kills and 13 digs in the victory, while Libs led the team with 13 kills and just missed out on a double-double with nine digs.
- Hendricks added eight kills and five blocks, while Western led the team with six blocks to go with six kills.
- Gentile had a match reminiscent of last Saturday when she went errorless, recording seven kills on 12 attempts for a .583 clip. The freshman also added four blocks.
- Eskridge and Terrill both recorded 11 digs as the Norse out-dug UIC, 52-51.
- Olsen dished out 40 assists, and also had five digs and a block.
- NKU hit .286 for the match, while UIC was held to .138.
- The Norse now hold an 8-1 lead over the Flames in the all-time series.
Up Next
- The Norse are back in Regents Hall for a midweek match against League-leading Cleveland State. First serve against the Vikings is scheduled for 6 p.m. ET on Wednesday, Nov. 8. The match will be broadcast on ESPN3 with streaming available on computers, tablets, smart phones and streaming devices through WatchESPN and the ESPN App.
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