Women's Volleyball | October 5

THE NEED TO KNOWS
Friday: NIU (12-4, 4-0 MAC) vs Ball State (7-11, 3-1 MAC), 7 p.m.
Saturday: NIU (12-4, 4-0 MAC) vs Toledo (10-6, 3-1 MAC), 7 p.m.

WHAT'S HAPPENIN'
• The Northern Illinois University volleyball team will begin a four-match homestand Friday night, hosting Ball State and continuing Saturday versus Saturday. Both matches will begin at 7 p.m. Central.
• Alumnae Night events will be held on Saturday night with all alums invited to the post match social and to be honored on the court at intermission.
• NIU has won seven-straight games, dating back to Sept. 16 in Washington, D.C., at the GW Invitational. The Huskies have posted winning streaks of eight matches or longer in the last two seasons.
• The Huskies swept the Mid-American Conference's West Division Offensive and Defensive Players of the Week awards for the second-straight week on Monday as Jenna Radtke (defensive) and Lauren Zielinski (offensive) collected the honors.
• The offensive award is the second-straight for Zielinski while the defensive honor is Radtke's first of the season.
• Radtke averaged 2.17 blocks per set at Central Michigan and Eastern Michigan last weekend, totaling 10 stops versus the Chippewas. She became the first Huskie in program history to earn an offensive and defensive honor in the same season and the first in the MAC since Ball State's Hayley Benson in 2014 to claim an offensive and defensive accolade in the same season.
• Zielinski has been named the MAC West's Offensive Player of the Week last two weeks. She finished the Michigan swing with a hitting percentage of .600, besting her previous weekend clip by 87 points. Zielinski also averaged 2.50 kills per set at CMU and EMU.
• The Huskies top the MAC in aces per set (1.46), blocks per set (2.66), opponents hitting percentage (.180) and total blocks (149).
• Anna Brereton had her best weekend defensively versus the Chippewas and Eagles as she averaged a clip of 4.17 digs per set and was a large reason why the Huskies' opposition only hit .150.
• Bri Horwath led NIU in kills last weekend with 3.00 kills per set while hitting an impressive .452. The senior posted nine kills in each match, leading the Huskies offense during the Central Michigan match.
• In NIU's and BSU's last six meetings, the team's are deadlocked 3-3 while the Huskies and Rockets series is led by Northern Illinois University, 5-1.

NEXT UP
• The Huskies will close their homestand Friday and Saturday, hosting Buffalo and Akron on Friday and Saturday night, respectively. Friday's match against the Bulls will air on ESPN3.