TOWSON, Md. ? For the second straight night, the Towson volleyball team rallied to force a fifth set in its match, but ultimately fell to Colonial Athletic Association leader Northeastern 3-2 on Saturday evening. The Tigers (18-11, 7-6 CAA) dropped their second straight match but managed to clinch a spot in th upcoming CAA Tournament with James Madison's loss on Saturday night.
The Tigers found themselves down early to the Huskies, trailing 17-9 at one point in the first set. Trailing 19-10, the Tigers got a kill from sophomore Britney Loomis and three straight points off the service game of senior Kristina Shannon to make it a 19-14 game. Northeastern extended its lead in the first set to 24-20 before the Tigers got four straight points to tie the set at 24-24 and force the team to play extra points to decide the set. The two teams then traded points and were tied at 25-25 before the Tigers got the final two points to claim a 27-25 win in set one. The Tigers hit .312 in the first set to Northeastern's .171.
Northeastern rallied back to take set two by a 25-20 score The Huskies jumped out to a 5-0 lead on Caitlin Tittl's serves and never looked back. The Huskies took a 2-1 advantage in the match with a 25-11 victory in set three.
Facing elimination in the fourth set, the Tigers jumped out to an early 7-2 advantage. The Huskies cut it to a 7-6 lead before the Tigers used a couple of kills from Loomis to extend their advantage to 11-7. Towson went ahead 18-10 in the set on a service ace by Katee Luecke. Northeastern made it a 23-20 score in the set before the Tigers closed it out on a pair of kills from senior Ally Perko.
In the final set, Northeastern held a 10-7 advantage before Towson tied it at 12-12. The two teams traded points to make it a 14-14 game and following a timeout, Brianna Seitz got the final two kills to give the Huskies the win.
Towson received 13 kills and seven digs from Loomis while Perko hit .600 with 10 kills on the night. Luecke notched 40 assists and seven digs while senior Valerie Chromy hit .412 with eight kills. Senior Lindsey Neighbors led the Tigers with nine digs while sophomore Shelynne Hoyt had five kills and six blocks, including three solo blocks.
Northeastern was led by Lauren DeTurk, who contributed 25 kills and 19 digs while Jessica Tkachuk had 28 assists and 12 digs. Britney Brown posted 30 assists and 13 kills while Seitz finished with 17 kills and 10 digs.
The Tigers are back in action a week from tonight when they host Delaware in the regular season finale for both teams. Match time on November 15 is set for 7 p.m. as the Tigers will honor their six seniors prior to the match.
