Pete Waite had his pep talk rehearsed.
With his team trailing 12-3 to Illinois State in the first round of the NCAA volleyball tournament Wednesday, the Northern Illinois coach told his troops, “We’ve done it before, we can do it again.”
And the Huskies did.
They roared back to win Game 1 by a 17-15 margin, then added 16-14 and 15-13 victories to advance to the second round Saturday night at Penn State (27-3).
Kori Schaurer and Nikki Kozak lead NIU (29-5) with 20 and 19 kills respectively in their second victory over ISU (21-11) this season.
Kim Nelson (15 kills) helped ISU’s Redbirds race to a 12-3 cushion, but Northern didn’t panic.
Shelby Snyder served up seven straight points to trim the Redbirds’ lead to 12-10, and back-to-back kills by Schaurer tied it at 14. ISU regained the lead at 15-14 when a Kozak spike was out. But NIU tied it on a tip by Snyder and took a lead on a dink by Becky Ramsey. A great save by Amy Foulke then fell in for the deciding point.
It appeared Northern would blow ISU away after its great comeback, taking a 5-1 lead in Game 2, but the Redbirds stiffened and pulled ahead 13-11.
Once again, the Huskies were right where they wanted to be-behind. A Schaurer kill off an assist by Snyder (66 assists) tied it at 13, and a Foulke dink and Kozak kill ended it at 16-14.
Florida State d. De Paul: Despite 20 kills and 21 digs by Wendy Fahlstrom in her last college match, De Paul lost 15-8, 7-15, 15-10, 15-10 at Tallahassee, Fla., in the Blue Demons’ first NCAA tournament appearance. De Paul ended its season 22-14. Florida State is 24-9.
Illinois d. SW Mo. St.: Tina Rogers led Illinois (18-12) past Southwest Missouri State (22-8) in the opening round in Springfield, Mo. Illinois won 15-7, 15-13 and 17-15.
Rogers scored a career-high 32 kills, the first time an Illini has had more than 30 in a three-game match. She also had 22 digs and four blocks while hitting .484.
The Illini will visit Colorado Sunday.