DEKALB, Ill. - The Northern Illinois University women's gymnastics team returns to Mid-American Conference play as the Huskies head to Muncie, Ind. to take on Ball State Friday night.

Competition between the Huskies and Cardinals will begin at 6 p.m. Central Time.

This will be the Huskies (7-2, 3-1) first MAC dual meet since defeating Central Michigan three weeks ago. While NIU head coach Sam Morreale sees some advantages in the Huskies' out of conference schedule, he feels good coming back into conference action.

"Getting back into conference is always a good thing for us," Morreale said. "It's great to get out and see what other teams are doing in the country, get seen by other judges that maybe we don't get seen by all the time. We know Ball State, we know what they can do so we're very excited to get back into the MAC."

The Huskies come into Friday's meet looking to build off their two best performances of the season and a part of that could be attributed to the return to the lineup of senior Amanda Stepp (Lapeer, Mich./Lapeer East). Stepp won two events at Southeast Missouri State by scoring a 9.875 on the beam and 9.850 on the vault but she also brings leadership to the team. Stepp an NCAA qualifier, would like to return to the NCAAs, but she would like to bring her teammates with her.

"She made it to regional's last year individually," he said. "It's never a fun thing to go to by yourself as great as it is. Her focus has been pulling this team along and encouraging them to be a little more ready when we started practice in the fall to help us get to where we're at now."

Freshmen Ashley Potts (Oakwood Hills, Ill./Prairie Ridge) has also stepped up in recent events for NIU coming in second place on the bars and beam in back-to-back meets. Since being fully inserted into the lineup on those two events, and the vault at the IGI Chicago Style Meet, Potts has not scored lower than a 9.725, showing the depth that this team can put out there.

"I can't say enough about Ashley Potts, she's just coming in and getting her stuff done," Morreale said. "We feel very comfortable with whoever we're putting out there, that's the beauty of this team."

Ball State (1-7, 1-3) got their only win of the season two weeks ago against the Western Michigan Broncos. They are averaging 193.616 with their season high of 193.875 coming last week in a loss at Eastern Michigan.

NIU who beat the Chippewas, 194.025-193.925, trails the defending MAC champions in the league standings. Both teams each has one loss in conference with the Chippewas having competed in one more conference meet than the Huskies so far.

"We're pretty excited about where we are in the MAC right now as far as how we're climbing the score ladder," Morreale said. "Right now, we control our destiny in the MAC. so we need to take it one meet at a time, take care of Ball State so that Eastern Michigan becomes a meaningful meet not only for score but for the regular season MAC champs."

This will be the Huskies' last road meet of the season. NIU closes out the regular season at home, playing host to the State of Illinois Classic on March 7 before taking on Eastern Michigan March 15.

-NIU-