After claiming two big victories last weekend, the NIU volleyball team has finally upped its record in the MAC.

After defeating Buffalo in four sets, (25-23, 22-25, 25-22, 25-17) the Huskies leveled out their overall record at 10-10 and climbed ahead in the MAC for the first time this season with a 4-3 record.

“The first set was the most competitive,” NIU head coach Ray Gooden said. “We were losing, we gave up the lead, but then we came back and pulled it out 25-23.”

On paper it sounds simple, but it took a group effort to manage the comeback that resulted in NIU’s win. After a kill by Cassie Yates finally ended a big Buffalo run, NIU fought hard to keep possession of the ball. Mary Kurisch executed two successful kills of her own and made a block with the assistance of Kristin Hoffman. Suddenly, the Huskies were back in the game.

Set two was played almost as closely as the first. This time however, NIU fell to Buffalo after being out-killed 18-13.

The Huskies regained the advantage after winning the third set 25-22.

After three neck-and-neck matches, the fourth game was unexpectedly one-sided with the Huskies winning 25-17.

“We were up at least nine or 10 points,” Gooden said. “At one point we were up 22-12. We applied pressure and we were able to score.”

Its success from the night before lingered as NIU faced Akron Saturday. Once again, NIU won in four sets, (22-25, 25-18, 25-22, 25-18) marking their fifth straight victory. This win brought up its overall record to 11-10, and its MAC record to 5-3.

The first set started out well for Akron, as they grabbed the early lead and held onto it for the entire match.

“We just started off really flat in that first set,” Gooden said. “We just couldn’t get the momentum enough to get the lead. That part was pretty frustrating. We really didn’t get going until the second set.”

Once the Huskies got going, there was no holding them back. This time, it was NIU’s turn to grab the early lead.

Like Akron before them, they held onto it the entire match, challenged with a tie score by Akron just once.

After grabbing the lead in set two, the Huskies dived into the final two sets with confidence and were never challenged by a tie score or a lead change again.

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