DEKALB, Ill. – The Northern Illinois University volleyball team will continue its current eight-match stretch away from home this weekend at it travels to the Oregon Classic. The Huskies will meet Loyola Marymount and Texas Rio Grande Valley on Friday, Sept. 1 before meeting the 14th-ranked, host Oregon Ducks on Saturday, Sept. 2.

Live stats for all three matches will be available on Oregon.Statbroadcast.com while NIU's Saturday match against Oregon will be live streamed on GoDucks.com/live. 

The Huskies head to Oregon with a 0-4 record, which includes losses last weekend to both Cal Poly and Dayton, who are receiving votes in this week's AVCA Top 25 poll. Junior Meg Wolowicz (Manitowoc, Wis./Manitowoc Lincoln) ranks fifth in the MAC with 1.14 blocks per set and was named to the All-Tournament Team at the NIU Holiday Inn Express Invitational last weekend. 

Six freshmen have seen playing time for the Huskies this season, including Kaylee Martin (Sterling, Ill./Sterling) and Jori Radtke (Buffalo Grove, Ill./Stevenson) who will look to build upon their strong final sets Monday at Milwaukee. Martin recorded six kills, hitting .364, in the last set against the Panthers while Radtke had five kills while hitting .333.

Loyola Marymount comes into the weekend with a 1-2 record following a victory over Albany and losses to Southern California and Michigan last weekend. The Lions posted a 19-11 mark a season ago, including 10-8 in West Coast Conference play. Sophomore Savannah Slattery was named to the Preseason All-WCC Team; NIU and Loyola Marymount will meet at 1 p.m. CT on Friday afternoon. 

First serve of NIU's second match on Friday against UTRGV will take place at 8 p.m. CT. The Vaqueros went 1-2 last weekend at the BYU Invitational, falling to Ohio State and the host Cougars while picking up a 3-1 victory over Saint Louis. UTRGV posted a 21-14 mark in 2016, including a 7-7 mark in the WAC. The Vaqueros won the WAC Tournament a season ago and appeared in the NCAA Tournament, where they fell to eventual runner-up Texas in the opening round. 

Oregon comes into the weekend with a 1-1 record after competing in the Vert Challenge last weekend in Gainesville, Fla. The Ducks opened the season with a 3-1 victory over No. 5 Nebraska before suffering a 3-1 setback against top-ranked Texas. Oregon is coming off a 21-10 record in 2016, which included a 13-7 mark in Pac-12 play, the Ducks reached the Second Round of the 2016 NCAA Tournament where they fell to Michigan. 

Following this weekend's trip west, the Huskies will begin a stretch of four-straight matches in the State of Iowa when they visit Northern Iowa on Tuesday, Sept. 5.