MAC Volleyball Championship Central
2016 MAC Volleyball Tournament Bracket
No. 2 Northern Illinois 3, No. 1 Miami 0
Box Score
Video: NIU Head Coach, Ray Gooden
Video: NIU Senior, Mary Grace Kelly
Video: NIU Redshirt Senior, Lauren Zielinski
DEKALB, Illinois - DeKALB, Ill. – For the first time since 2001 - the last time NIU hosted the Mid-American Tournament - NIU volleyball (25-5) claimed the MAC Volleyball Tournament as it defeated No. 1 seed Miami (24-6) in straight sets, 25-18, 25-20, 25-20. The NCAA Tournament berth is NIU's seventh all-time and it's first since 2011.
Senior Mary Grace Kelly (Strongsville, Ohio/Walsh Jesuit) led the Huskies with 17 points on 11 kills, three aces and four blocks to earn Tournament MVP honors while Jenna Radtke (Buffalo Grove, Ill./Stevenson) amassed 10 kills, four blocks and a team-best four service aces to collect All-Tournament accolades as well.
The tournament championship was the first under Head Coach Ray Gooden.
"I'm extremely happy for this group. The coolest part of this is (the team's) composure and their ability to embrace the situation and live in the moment and we saw that," said Gooden. "I can't tell you who played the best and supported the group the most because they all did. I think all of those things were on display tonight. I though we had balance, we had bravery and we had great support from everyone."
After building an early 6-2 lead in the opening set, Miami rallied to even the match and take a 7-6 lead, however, NIU showed great resolve to reclaim its lead and build another substantial advantage. The Huskies would win the set by seven points, 25-18, as their swings at the service line charged through the RedHawks return, tallying five aces, including two-straight by Kelly to end the set.
The Huskies changed their style in the second frame, focused on keeping the RedHawks off balance and their offense out of rhythm. NIU stuffed five of Miami's attempts and forced its foes into nine total errors in the set, allowing them to hit just .092.
The Huskies strong resolve carried through the rest of the match, battling through 18 ties and eight lead changes, as the squads went kill for kill. However, NIU's service and blocking continued to feed the team and proved the difference on the scoreboard.
NIU won the second and third sets by identical 25-20 scores and powered through in the third stanza despite being outhit by the RedHawks, 382-343.
The Huskies finished with 10 blocks and nine service aces while leading Miami in kills, 44-40.
A crowd of 824 mostly-Huskie fans at Victor E. Court in the NIU Convocation Center saw Meg Wolowicz(Manitowoc, Wis./Manitowoc Lincoln) record the final kill of the match as the team stormed the court and piled onto each other in celebration. It was the second-straight NIU match that sold over capacity in Victor E. Court.
The NCAA Division I Volleyball Selection Show will air live on ESPNU next Sunday, Nov. 27 at 8 p.m. Central. NIU Athletics will host a watch party at Fatty's Pub & Grille that night in the Novak Room. Doors open at 7 p.m.
2016 MAC Championship All-Tournament Team
Jenna Radtke, Northern Illinois
Mary Grace Kelly, Northern Illinois
Paige Hill, Miami
Katie Tomasic, Miami
Ali Lake, Ohio
Jelena Sunjic, Bowling Green
2016 MAC Championship Tournament MVP
Mary Grace Kelly, Northern Illinois
