Women's Volleyball | October 11

DEKALB, Ill. – After three consecutive road matches, the Northern Illinois University volleyball team returns to Victor E. Court this weekend to host Akron on Friday, Oct. 12 at 7 p.m. and Buffalo on Saturday, Oct. 13 at 7:30 p.m.
 
"The most important thing for us right now is to defend our home court," said head coach Ray Gooden. "We've done a good job of that in conference right now. For us to continue that against Akron, who has won back-to-back matches, and Buffalo, who has pieces that are physical and can score points in spurts, it's important for us to put together another pair of matches at Victor E. Court."
 
NIU comes into the weekend at 4-2 in the Mid-American Conference, one match behind Ball State and Eastern Michigan for first place in the west division. The Huskies split its matches last weekend, losing 3-0 at Eastern Michigan before rebounding for a 3-1 win at Central Michigan. NIU has won its last three matches at Victor E. Court, defeating Toledo, Ball State, and Western Michigan to open MAC play. The Huskies hit .256 in those victories, holding the opposition to a .191 hitting percentage. Meg Wolowicz (Manitowoc, Wis./Manitowoc Lincoln) and Jori Radtke (Buffalo Grove, Ill./Stevenson) are averaging a combined 8.82 kills per set during this current three-match home winning streak.
 
"We all felt that we were doing some positive things in the non-conference schedule," said Gooden. "We just needed to put it all together. I thought we did a good job of that in those three matches. Now it's a matter of trying to pick up where we left off after the Central Michigan match. We did a good job of rallying back from a tough one at Eastern [Michigan], and so if we can continue to find ways to improve from last Saturday's match we're putting ourselves in a good spot."
 
Senior Meg Wolowicz (Manitowoc, Wis./Manitowoc Lincoln) led NIU with 25 kills in the win over the Chippewas. She now has 976 kills for her career, 24 away from becoming the 23^rd Huskie in program history to reach 1,000 career kills.
 
"Meg has been one of the more prolific offensive players we've had in my time at NIU," Gooden said. "Moving her to the outside shows that a little more. It's always a cool milestone to have a player reach 1,000 kills. Getting to this point speaks volumes of the level of work she's put in and also the teammates she's been around during her career."
 
Akron and Buffalo enter this weekend with matching 2-4 conference records. The Zips won both of their matches last weekend, snapping a four-match losing streak with a 3-0 win over Buffalo and a 3-2 win against Toledo. Kayla Gwozdz was named the MAC East Offensive Player of the Week on Monday after tallying 29 kills in the two wins and hitting a season-high .481 against Buffalo. Akron leads the MAC in aces with 1.64 per set. Junior middle blocker Ashley Richardson is fourth in the MAC in hitting percentage at .333.
 
Buffalo moved to 2-4 in the MAC after 3-0 losses to Akron and Ball State. The Bulls' two wins in conference play this season have come in five sets against both Ohio and Kent State, with the losses all coming in 3-0 sweeps. Sophomore outside hitter Andrea Mitrovic leads the MAC in kills, averaging 4.34 per set.
 
"Both teams serve really well, so we're going to do a good job with our serve and our pass," Gooden said. "Buffalo does a solid job blocking and they try to do their best at the net. Akron does a lot of their work defensively on the floor. They also have a really fast and diverse offense that we're going to have to really key in on because, if they're in system, they're probably one of the fastest in the league."
 
NIU Volleyball has multiple promotions for the upcoming weekend matches. For both matches this weekend, the first 100 fans will receive a "Beat Cancer" t-shirt courtesy of Northwestern Medicine. Friday's match against Akron is also Camper Reunion Night. Campers from this past summer's NIU volleyball camps can where their t-shirt from camp for free admission to Friday's match. On Saturday night, fans who bring their ticket from the Homecoming football game can get into the volleyball match for $2.
 
--NIU--