Box Score vs. NIU

Box Score vs. UIC

DEKALB, Ill. – The Western Illinois volleyball team opened its 2009 season Friday with a pair of losses during the first day of the NIU Comfort Inn & Suites of Rochelle Invitational.

The Fighting Leathernecks were defeated by host Northern Illinois 0-3 (13-25, 24-26, 18-25) before falling 2-3 (25-20, 25-27, 25-17, 23-25, 6-15) to Illinois-Chicago in what was a close match throughout.

In opening set of the first match, Western fell in an early 9-2 deficit to the Huskies and weren't able to climb back any closer than four points.

“In the Northern game, we had a lot of first match of the season jitters,” said Western Illinois head coach Kym McKay. “Some of our youth and inexperience showed a lot.”

McKay said the team showed improvement in a close second set, but the effort didn't carry over into the third set.

“There were some good things that happened. Most of them were in the second set,” McKay said. “We were disappointed with our competitiveness in sets one and three.”

McKay said the team struggled with the middle block and it took the wind out of the defense's sails.

“When the block struggles, it really throws off your next set of defense with the libero and the defensive specialist,” McKay said. “We just weren't able to dig balls like we normally would.  Elise (Crnjak) only had four digs, and I can't remember the last time she had that few of digs in a match.”

Allison Gilbert led the Leathernecks with 13 kills in the first match while freshman Katie Hosteng chipped in eight kills with a .375 hitting percentage (8k, 2e, 16ta).

“Katie Hosteng in the middle did a lot of good things in the first match of her career,” McKay said. “She was mentally tough. She had a lot of big kills.”

McKay said between matches, the team addressed playing with a purpose and not simply going through the motions. The Leathernecks came out against UIC and did just that by winning their first set of the season.

“Everybody was focused and in tune with what we needed to do. It was really nice to see that,” McKay said. “We were definitely more physical. We had a lot more block touches and a lot more blocks. It was good to see us make that change from match to match.”

While the Leathernecks won the first and third sets, McKay said they had every opportunity to win sets two and four as well if not for untimely errors.

 “In both sets we were about to finish them off and unfortunately the youth kind of snuck in,” McKay said. “The timing of some of our errors in the UIC match were just at the wrong time. Errors are part of the game, but we have to make sure they happen at better times.”

Gilbert again led Western with 13 kills while Megan Toczek chipped in 11 kills and Ellen Miller recorded 44 assists to go with 20 digs.

The Leathernecks are back in action in the tournament Saturday as they face Stephen F. Austin at 10 a.m. before turning around to face Southern Illinois-Carbondale at 5 p.m.