DEKALB, Ill. – The Northern Illinois University volleyball team wraps up its five-game road trip this Wednesday night, travelling to Western Michigan for a 6 p.m. match. The Huskies then host Bowling Green Saturday night at 7 p.m. to start a three-match homestand to close the regular season.
NIU (9-18, 7-5 MAC) is 2-2 on this current road swing after splitting its matches last weekend at Ball State and Toledo. After a 3-0 loss to the leaders of the Mid-American Conference West Ball State on Oct. 26, the Huskies completed a season sweep of Toledo with a 3-1 win on Oct. 27. Senior
Meg Wolowicz (Manitowoc, Wis./Manitowoc Lincoln) has led NIU with 4.24 kills per set over the last four matches, putting together a 16-kill, 10-dig performance in the win over the Rockets. She remains second in the MAC in kills with 4.16 per set. At 7-5, NIU has the fourth-best record in the MAC with four matches remaining.
"We're still looking to play to get in the tournament first and just do the things we're capable of doing," said head coach
Ray Gooden. "We're looking at it as getting into the tournament as one outcome. We know we can still get better. If we get better, hopefully the rest will take care of itself."
"It may sound cliché right now, but that's where we're at. We have to be our best in the moments we're playing right now. That's when we're at our best. When we played against Ball State, we were looking at something else instead of that particular moment. We learned from it really fast and played better at Toledo. We have to do the same thing against Western Michigan, another team we're playing the second time around that wants to even the score and defend their home court."
The Huskies won the first meeting against Western Michigan 3-1 (25-15, 20-25, 25-21, 25-19) on Sept. 27 at Victor E. Court. NIU hit a season-high .325 as a team in the match and held a 10-7 edge in blocks over the Broncos as the Huskies moved to 3-0 in the MAC.
Jori Radtke (Buffalo Grove, Ill./Stevenson) led the match with 18 kills and added 10 digs. Wolowicz hit .316 with 16 kills while
Jasmine Kemp (DeKalb, Ill./DeKalb) hit .455 with 10 kills and no errors.
Western Michigan lost its two matches last weekend at Toledo and Ball State to move to 3-9 in the MAC. The Broncos are led offensively by outside hitter Rachel Bontrager who ranks third in the conference with 3.90 kills per set. Setter Mary Murphy is third in the MAC in assists with 9.83 per set.
"The records don't matter," Gooden said about Wednesday's match at Western Michigan. "They're going to be better. They're going to give it everything they got because they have to right now. Everyone has to. No one's technically qualified for the tournament, so we're all trying to make that last push to make the tournament and put ourselves in the best position for it."
Bowling Green is 9-3 in MAC play after splitting matches against Akron and Buffalo last weekend. The Falcons swept Akron on Oct. 26 before dropping a five-set match to Buffalo the following night. It was the second straight weekend Bowling Green split matches. The Falcons are two matches behind Miami for first place in the MAC East. Libero Kallie Seimet leads the conference in digs, averaging 6.44 per set. The Falcons, as a team, are second in the MAC in opponent hitting percentage at .165.
"They do a great job of funneling the ball to Seimet, who is one of the best in the country, not just our league," said Gooden. "Bowling Green has a lot of balance on their team too. When we get to that match, it's going to be important to focus on their whole team instead of just one particular thing."
Saturday's match against the Falcons is Diabetes Awareness Night. Sophomore libero
Miranda Karlen (Evansville, Wis./Evansville) is one of a number of NCAA Division I volleyball student-athletes with Type 1 Diabetes. Representatives from the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation will be on hand. The match will also be broadcast on ESPN+.
--NIU--
