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Score: Northern Illinois 3, Ohio 2 (25-20, 25-23, 18-25, 17-25, 15-9)
Location: Athens, Ohio (Convocation Center)
Record: Ohio 10-11 (6-3 MAC), Northern Illinois 17-4 (9-0 MAC)
Short Story: Senior outside hitter/libero Mallory Salis (Oak Lawn, Ill.) put on another sensational performance for the Ohio volleyball team (10-11, 6-3 MAC), totaling a career-high 29 kills, but it was not enough to complete a comeback in a tough 3-2 (25-20, 25-23, 18-25, 17-25, 15-9) setback to Mid-American Conference West Division foe Northern Illinois (17-4, 9-0 MAC) on Friday (Oct. 21) at the Convocation Center in Athens, Ohio.

THE BASICS
• Ohio held its 2016 Dig Pink Match on Friday. The Bobcats will be sported their pink jerseys. Ohio has been fundraising for the Side-Out Foundation, which teams with the volleyball community to inspire science and hope in the match against breast cancer.
• The Bobcats hit .249 (72 kills-26 errors-185 total attacks) while the Huskies attacked at a .291 (63 kills-17 errors-158 total attacks) pace. Northern Illinois led the match in total team blocks (9.5-5.0), while Ohio led in service aces (10-2) and assists (69-60).
• Salis attacked at a .271 (29 kills-10 errors-70 total attacks) rate for Ohio and led the match in kills. The two-time reigning MAC East Division Offensive Player of the Week achieved a double-double with 12 digs and also logged one service ace.
• Redshirt junior middle blocker Ali Lake (Liberty Township, Ohio) tallied 17 kills and three solo blocks for the Bobcats.
• Junior outside hitter Jaime Kosiorek (Chagrin Falls, Ohio) totaled 16 kills, two service aces and eight digs for Ohio.
• Redshirt sophomore middle blocker Katie Nelson (Regina, Saskatchewan) finished with six kills, a career-high four service aces and three assisted blocks for the Bobcats.
• Sophomore setter/outside hitter Stephanie Olman (Maumee, Ohio) distributed a match-high 66 assists to set a new career high. She also had four digs and an assisted block.
• Sophomore libero Erica Walker (Wheaton, Ill.) led the Bobcats with a career-high 25 digs and also added three service aces and an assist. 
• Senior middle blocker Jenna Radtke led Northern Illinois with 21 kills. The reigning MAC West Division Offensive Player of the Week hit an impressive .633 (21 kills-two errors-30 total attacks) and added five assisted blocks, four digs and two assists.
• Junior outside hitter Taylor Krage added 11 kills, two assisted blocks, an assist and six digs for the Huskies.
• Junior setter Amber Seaman distributed a team-high 32 assists and achieved a double-double with 13 digs for Northern Illinois. She also added a service ace.
• Freshman setter Sam Boever chipped in 21 assists for the Huskies. She also added five digs.
• Junior libero Anna Brereton led Northern Illinois with 25 digs and also added an assist.
• Senior Mary Grace Kelly tallied eight kills and added a service ace, three total blocks (one solo, two assisted) and 17 digs for the Huskies.
• Redshirt senior middle blocker Lauren Zielinski logged eight kills and three assisted blocks while sophomore middle blocker Meg Wolowicz chipped in seven kills, three assisted blocks and two assists for Northern Illinois.

HOW IT HAPPENED
• Northern Illinois built up a 15-12 advantage in the first set courtesy of three kills by Radtke, two by Krage and kills by Kelly, Wolowicz, Zielinski and senior right side Bri Horwath and double blocks by Horwath and Wolowicz and Radtke and Zielinski. Ohio countered with a 7-4 spurt that evened the score at 19-all, using three kills by Salis, kills by Lake and sophomore outside hitter Simone Miller (Kalamazoo, Mich.) and a double block by Lake and Miller. The Huskies closed out a five-point set win, though, by going on a 6-1 run, taking advantage of kills by Krage, Radtke and Zielinski and back-to-back double blocks by Kelly and Radtke.
• The Huskies survived a second set that featured a match-high 11 ties and four lead changes to go up 2-0 in the match. Six kills by Lake, five by Salis and four by Kosiorek and three service aces by Nelson in the set helped the Bobcats stay even with Northern Illinois. A service ace by Kosiorek put Ohio ahead, 23-22, and forced the Huskies to burn a timeout, but Northern Illinois recieved a kill by Wolowicz, a service ace by Kelly and a kill by Horwath to take a two-point victory.
• Northern Illinois took a 6-5 lead in the third set after an Ohio attack error, but the Bobcats rattled off seven of the next eight points to snatch a 12-7 lead. Two kills by Nelson a kill by Lake and a pair of service aces by Walker put the Bobcats in control. The Huskies answered with a 9-6 stretch to make it a two-point set at 18-16, but Ohio outscored Northern Illinois down the stretch, 7-2, to clinch a seven-point set win. Three kills and a service ace by Salis gave the Bobcats a boost at the end of the set.
• The Bobcats broke a six-all tie with a 8-1 run that gave Ohio a 14-7 advantage in the fourth set. The stretch was highlighted by three kills by Salis, two by Lake and a double block by Olman and Nelson. The Huskies responded with a 6-0 run that cut Ohio's lead down to one at 14-13, taking advantage of two kills apiece by Radtke and Krage and a triple block by Zielinski, Radtke and Krage. It was all Bobcats after that, though, as an 11-4 run allowed Ohio to even the match at two-all. Three kills by Salis and two apiece by Kosiorek and Lake proved to be the difference.
• Ohio found itself with two points of Northern Illinois in the fifth set at 10-8 thanks in large part to three kills by Lake. Unfortunately for the Bobcats, two kills apiece by Krage and Radtke allowed the Huskies to score five of the final six points of the match.

BEYOND THE BOX SCORE
• Salis notched her eighth double-double of the season and 18th of her career. She has now posted double-digit kills 12 times this year and 27 times in her career. She has tallied at least 22 kills in each of the last five matches. Salis has logged double-digit digs ten times this year and 44 times in her career.
• Lake has posted double digit kills ten times this year and 13 times in her career.
• Kosiorek has finished with double digit kills 11 times this year and 44 times in her career.
• Olman has now distributed at least 40 assists nine times this year -- including at least 50 on three occasions.
• Walker has now tallied double-digit digs nine times this year -- including each of the last seven matches -- and 19 times in her career.

QUOTABLE
Webb on the loss
"It was a good match. Tonight was about a lot more than just volleyball. Dig Pink is a great event nationwide that brings awareness to breast cancer and works to help beat the disease. I'm glad we were able to do that tonight and that a number of people were able to be in attendance and be a part of that. Our team, this year, as they do every year, raised a significant amount of money toward that, so I'm very proud of our team for that. In regards to the game itself, it was a good game overall. Second set could have gone either way. I think that's the one I probably wish we could have had. Third and fourth, we were pretty dominant. I think NIU started pressing a little bit. They don't normally make unforced errors. They made a few there. Fifth, we made some pretty significant poor decisions on defense. There were some plays that just shouldn't happen at this level that we're going to have to work to correct. I need to do a better job of having them prepared for that moment, defensively. Offensively, we did some good things. I think we served as well tonight as we probably have this year. We were very good from the service line. We passed really well. Really, really happy with first-ball contact overall tonight. Again, just those interesting in-between moments. Is it a swing? Is it a down ball? Kind of those in-between balls that we didn't really see it the way that we should have seen it out there, and that led to some points that we should've had. And, obviously, we didn't defend very well tonight, and that's something that we have to do a better job of communicating back row to front row when it's coming so that we can make a play."

Salis on the key to her success over the last five matches
"I think it's just kind of the mentality I have. I kind of changed that a little bit since last year. As you grow older, you kind of see more about volleyball that not everyone sees. So, as an outside hitter, a lot of the hitters are, 'Let's go up and bang a ball. Let's try and bounce a ball right in front of a defender.' Well, that doesn't need to be the case. I think I've grown as a hitter in terms of being smarter. A lot of my kills go off hands, or tipping. It's not much of the huge hit that the crowd gets really excited for. A lot of people don't realize it, but inside my head, I tell myself a kill's a kill. Whatever it take to get a point, that's what I'm going to do. I kind of just have that mentality of going into an approach like that, and it's worked for me. The other part is having consistent middles who are always up in transition. They're pulling the block, and that gives me a one-on-one. And, having a setter that who is able to dish a ball out to me. So, there's a ton of pieces that kind of go into it and makes it able to happen."

UP NEXT
The Bobcats look to get back in the win column on Saturday (Oct. 22) when they host MAC West Division foe Western Michigan (8-14, 3-6 MAC) in a 7 p.m. ET match at the Convocation Center. Saturday's match promotion is Spook 'N' Spike, with fans who wear costumes to the match receiving $2 admission. Trick-or-treating will take place from 6-7 p.m. ET. The first 200 fans in attendance will receive free Bobcat socks. The Bobcats will sign autographs for fans following the match. Saturday's match will be streamed on WatchESPN and the ESPN app, with Jake Hromada and Rachel Wallbrown on the call.

The Broncos opened the fifth weekend of MAC play with a 3-2 (25-21, 23-25, 25-20, 26-28, 15-10) loss to MAC East Division foe Kent State on Friday at the M.A.C. Center in Kent, Ohio.

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