The Ohio University volleyball team pulled off the comeback of its season on Sunday in DeKalb, Illinois, rallying from two sets down to defeat Northern Illinois in five sets and complete a weekend sweep of the Huskies, according to the Northern Illinois University Athletics recap of the match.
Northern Illinois (11-14, 4-12 MAC) controlled the match early on its Senior Night, taking the first two sets 25-15 and 25-12 behind outside hitter Autumn Flynn, who led all players with 12 kills and hit .308, NIU Athletics reported. Ohio (13-15, 11-5 MAC) looked beaten — and then, in the words of NIU’s own recap, lineup changes by the Bobcats changed the match.
“You always want your next match to be better, and it absolutely was,” Northern Illinois head coach Sondra D’Amore told NIU Athletics. “The first two sets, they came out really strong. Ohio made some lineup changes and put pressure on us. It was a good fight from our team tonight.”
Ohio took the third set 25-23, closing it with a final kill from Emma McCartney and an ace from Delaney Steers in the late points, according to NIU Athletics. The fourth set turned at the midway mark: NIU led 15-8, but the Bobcats fought back to tie it at 17, gave up their last two-point deficit at 19-17, and closed the set 25-22 to force a fifth.
The deciding set went to extra points. Ohio erased an early 3-1 deficit, tied it at six and led 10-8 before the teams traded points down the stretch, with NIU’s Rylea Alvin — who matched her career best with nine blocks — and McCartney combining on a block that forced a timeout at 12-11, NIU Athletics reported. Ohio finally closed it 18-16.
The win finished a two-win weekend in DeKalb. On Friday night, Ohio beat the Huskies in four sets, 25-15, 21-25, 25-19 and 25-20, per NIU Athletics’ recap of that match, giving the Bobcats back-to-back road wins over the same opponent in the span of about 48 hours — the second of them from the brink of a sweep.
Ohio’s attack has been led this season by Bailey Blair, who entered the weekend averaging a team-best 2.96 kills per set with 293 kills on the year, according to NIU Athletics’ preview of the series, with Torre Kildow, Gentry Brown and Olivia Gardner each contributing more than 2.14 kills per set.
What happens next: the Bobcats’ 11-5 conference mark keeps them in the upper tier of the MAC standings with the conference tournament later this month. Northern Illinois closes its regular season on the road at Kent State on November 14-15, according to NIU Athletics.
Photo: Gkuriger, CC BY-SA 4.0