Box Score DEKALB, Ill. – Senior Lauryn Dela Cruz (Provo, Utah/Timpview) and junior Beatriz Palmieri (Ribeirao Preto, Sao Paulo, Brazil/Professora Carlina Cacapava de Mello) recorded double-doubles for the Chicago State volleyball team as it earned a 3-1 (18-25, 25-21, 25-22, 25-23) victory over host Northern Illinois Tuesday night at Victor E. Court in a tough in-state battle.
Dela Cruz finished with 21 kills and 18 digs while producing a .326 (21-6-46) hitting clip, while Palmieri recorded 18 kills and 18 digs on the night.
CSU (6-6) began the first set with an early 6-1 run that ended on a kill from senior Gabby Pearl (Farmer City, IL/Blue Ridge) and later captured a 12-8 lead thanks to a kill by Dela Cruz. NIU then went on a 17-6 scoring run that included scoring six of the last eight points to win the set for a 1-0 lead.
The Huskies gained a 4-2 lead to start the second set following a hitting error by the Green and White before the visitors posted a 19-15 scoring drive to even the gain the advantage at 21-17 after a kill by sophomore Summer Farris (Farmington Hills, Mich./North Farmington). After NIU scored three unanswered points to pull within 21-20, a block from Farris and Palmieri helped the Cougars tally the last four points to send the match into intermission tied at a set apiece.
Both teams started the third set with eight lead changes and seven ties before the home team posted an 8-4 run to go ahead by a 15-11 margin following a Crystal McAlpin solo block. CSU responded with an 11-7 run of its own to even the score at 22-22 then scored three unanswered points on kills from Palmieri and Dela Cruz with senior Ludmila Bomfim (Belo-Horizonte Minas Gerais, Brazil/Escola Estadual Pedro II) sealing the win with a service ace for a 2-1 advantage.
Farris gave the visitors an early 3-1 lead in the fourth set, but the Huskies would go on to score 11 of the next 20 points played to even the score at 12-12 following a kill from Jori Radtke. The Green and White then produced eight of the next 13 points scored to recapture the lead at 20-17 that ended with a kill from Dela Cruz before NIU used a quick 5-2 scoring drive to once again tie the set at 22-22. CSU finished the match by scoring three of the last four points, including a Dela Cruz kill on match point.
Sophomore Lacee Adams (Muncie, Ind./Muncie Central) tallied 30 assists, while Bomfim finished with 25 assists and two service aces for CSU. Junior Megan Klavitter (Fenton, Mich./Linden) and Farris paced the Green and White's defensive unit with 24 digs and four blocks, respectively.
Meg Wolowicz led Northern Illinois (2-9) with a match-leading 30 kills and Grace Balensiefer recorded a match-best 34 assists to go along with 12 digs.
The Cougars head back to Florida this weekend for the Stetson Invitational in DeLand where the will play twice on Friday against Brown at 10 a.m. and Bethune-Cookman at 1:30 p.m.
