Huskies’ attack proves to be too much for Rams

The Rams looked to string together
consecutive conference wins for the first
time this season Saturday when they
welcomed the Northeastern Huskies to
Alltel Pavilion.

VCU was fresh off a win Friday over
defending conference champion Hofstra,
but it could not carry the momentum to
the next night as Northeastern walked away
victorious, 3-1.

Both teams started the match fast
offensively. After multiple attack errors
from freshman Jessica Ojukwu (Sao Paulo,
Brazil/Colegio Dourado) in the opening
points, the Huskies jumped to a quick
3-0 lead in the first game. But, the Rams
countered in the ensuing points with a
strong service series by freshman Belinda
Behncke-Biney (Hamburg, Germany/Gymnasium
Mariemthal) to tie the game, 5-5.

The Huskies never held a lead greater
than six points during the game, and the
Rams could not pull ahead throughout
after tying the game six times. The Rams
rallied to a 27-27 tie after falling behind
22-16, forcing a late timeout from the
Huskies. Britney Brown assisted the kill
on the following three points to give the
Huskies a narrow 30-27 decision.

The second game followed a similar
script. Neither team was able to make a push
until Helene Servillon provided a spark for
the Huskies, serving them from a 21-21
tie to a 28-21 lead. Junior Lauren DeTurk
made the winning kill for Northeastern in
a 30-27 victory.

The Rams faced tough odds entering
the third game, needing to take the final
three to claim victory on their home floor.
Helene Servillon continued to excel in
the service game for Northeastern. The
freshman served for five consecutive points,
helping to bring the Huskies to an early
11-3 lead.

VCU responded following a subsequent
timeout and slowly chipped away to
overcome the deficit. A well-executed team
effort allowed the Rams to momentarily
pull ahead 22-21. Every waning point
was hard-fought as each team struggled to
gain the upper hand. A failed attack error
by Brown gave VCU the clinching point,
30-27, as the Rams drew to within a game
of the Huskies.

The air seemingly escaped the Rams’
balloon in what was the match’s final
game. The Huskies recorded 16 kills and
a match-high .359 attack percentage. The
game was knotted at six a piece before
Northeastern gained control as it had in
the first and second games. The Huskies
achieved their largest lead of any game at
13 points on the match’s clinching attack
error to give them a 30-27 win.

Junior Elisa Kuehnel (Dresden, Germany/
Sportsgymnasium) led the Rams
with 13 kills, followed by Behncke-Biney
and Ojukwu with 11 and 10, respectively.
Junior libero Laryssa Goncalves (Curitiba,
Brazil/Colegio Dom Bosco) had a strong
match, leading the Rams with 18 digs. Of
the 217 points scored in the match, the
Rams held the lead for only 26.

VCU falls to 8-17 overall and 4-7 in CAA
play with just three conference matches
remaining before tournament competition.
Northeastern improves to 7-3 in the CAA,
climbing to within a game of first-place
Delaware. VCU hosts Radford on Tuesday
and William and Mary on Friday. Both
games start at 7 p.m.