DEKALB, Ill. - After fighting back from a 2-1 deficit on Tuesday at Western Illinois, Southeast Missouri women's volleyball (8-5) held off a surging Northern Illinois (2-10) in five sets Wednesday night at Victor E. Court to close its non-conference schedule.
 
Southeast jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the match after taking the first two sets, 25-16, 25-22, before NIU knotted the match at 2-2 with identical third and fourth sets of 25-21.
 
Libero Ally Dion registered an ace to secure match point, 16-14, in the fifth-set tiebreaker to keep the Huskies at bay.
 
With the win, SEMO has totaled eight non-conference wins in 2018, which matches the 2013 season when the team finished 17-16 (8-9 nonconference).
 
Southeast started the match with a 3-0 lead and extended that advantage to 7-3 courtesy of a service ace from Emily Boggetto. Four unanswered points from the Huskies tied the set at 7-7 before a kill from Maggie Adams brought the lead back to SEMO, 16-12.
 
A kill from Claire Ochs coupled with an NIU attack error brought the set to 19-14 in favor of the Redhawks. SEMO then closed out the opening set with a 6-1 run punctuated by a Haley Bilbruck rally stopper, 25-16.
 
Southeast had to come from behind in the second set as Northern Illinois led the set early, 11-8 and grew that edge to 17-12 before three straight points by SEMO forced an NIU timeout at 17-15.
 
Autumn Martin would add a kill out of the break before two kills from Madara Bajare along with an error by the Huskies tied the set at 18-18. Adams and Bilbruck combined for a block assist to make the score 20-20 before the Redhawks ended the set with three straight kills by Bilbruck (2) and Laney Malloy.
 
Northern Illinois responded with wins in the third and fourth set to force a fifth set tiebreaker.
 
In the fifth set, a service ace by Dion put the Redhawks ahead 4-3 before Bilbruck tied the set at 5-5 with a kill, which started a 3-0 SEMO run. Trailing by two points, the Huskies went on a 5-0 run to take a 10-7 lead.
 
Kills from both Berns and Ochs cut NIU's lead to 11-10 before Southeast called a timeout trailing 12-10. After the timeout, SEMO posted a 3-1 run to knot the set at 13-13 with a block assist from Adams and Malloy.
 
The Huskies would add one more point before back-to-back NIU errors brought match point for Southeast, 15-14. Dion then posted her second service ace of the day after NIU's timeout to clinch the match for the Redhawks.
 
Southeast totaled 13 blocks in the match for its second highest total of 2018 as Northern Illinois posted eight. Berns paced the Redhawks with six and Adams and Bilbruck each had five.
 
Malloy led the attack with her fifth double-double of the season, tallying 16 kills and 19 digs. Bajare chipped in 13 kills and Bilbruck added a season high of 12.
 
Ochs notched her sixth double-double performance of 2018 with 48 assists and 17 digs.
 
Dion tallied 17 digs in the contest to surpass 500 digs in her Redhawks career (505). Madeline Grimm chipped in 11.
 
With the victory, head coach Julie Yankus is now one win away from 100 in her career at Southeast.
 
The Redhawks open their 2018 Ohio Valley Conference slate on Friday, Sept. 21 at Houck Field House at 6:30 p.m. against 2017 OVC Champion Austin Peay.