Women's Volleyball | October 4

DEKALB, Ill. – The Northern Illinois University volleyball team continues its current stretch of three consecutive road matches this weekend when it goes to Eastern Michigan for a match Friday night, followed by a Saturday night match at Central Michigan. First serve for both matches is 6 p.m.
 
The Huskies are tied atop the Mid-American Conference west division at 3-1 with Ball State and Eastern Michigan. NIU split its two matches last week, defeating Western Michigan 3-1 (25-15, 20-25, 25-21, 25-19) at Victor E. Court on Sept. 27 before a 3-0 (18-25, 26-28, 18-25) loss at Miami on Sept. 30. The Huskies' 3-1 start to MAC play marks the sixth time in the last seven seasons that NIU has won at least three of its first four conference matches. With just two home matches in October, the Huskies will need to add some road wins to the ledger to stay on top in the west.
 
"The best we can do is handle what's in front of us," said head coach Ray Gooden. "Sometimes it works in our favor because we were able to start league with three in a row at home. Now we have to go through two pretty tough stretches where we're going to play three in the road, two at home, and five on the road. We just have to do our best to handle whoever is in front of us to the best of our ability."
 
On Monday, sophomore libero Miranda Karlen (Evansville, Wis./Evansville) was named the MAC West Defensive Player of the Week after averaging 7.57 digs per set against Western Michigan and Miami. Her 29 digs at Miami last Sunday were the most in the MAC for a three-set match this season, and were two shy of tying her career-high of 31 set earlier this season against Northern Kentucky. Karlen has had at least 20 digs in five straight matches and is fourth in the MAC with 5.11 digs per set. This is the third consecutive week a Huskie earned a MAC weekly honor.
 
"I think Miranda has had a better understanding of the importance of her position to our team," Gooden said. "She's been able to show what she can do in big moments, especially in conference play, and she continues to improve. Her role is huge for finding stability on our side so we're able to run in system and to find the defensive intensity we need to battle against teams like Eastern and Central this weekend and have success."
 
Senior Meg Wolowicz (Manitowoc, Wis./Manitowoc Lincoln) is quickly approaching a career milestone. She enters this week 53 kills away from 1,000 for her career. Wolowicz is second in the MAC in kills per set at 4.12, nearly double her production from a season ago. Another player who has seen a dramatic rise in offensive production is sophomore Jori Radtke (Buffalo Grove, Ill./Stevenson). Radtke enters this week sixth in the MAC in kills at 3.40 per set, after averaging 1.81 in her freshman campaign. She came up one dig shy on Sunday of her fifth straight double-double, finishing the match with 10 kills and nine digs.
 
Eastern Michigan split its matches at Ball State and Toledo last weekend to stay in the lead pack in the division. The Eagles, like NIU, have two players among the top-10 in the MAC in kills. Senior Jordan Smith is fifth with 3.54 kills per set while Cassie Haut is 10^th with 2.98 kills per set and a conference-leading .364 hitting percentage. Eastern Michigan leads the MAC with a .154 opponent hitting percentage and is second with a .229 team hitting percentage. Central Michigan enters the weekend 0-4 in the conference. Kalina Smith leads the Chippewas with 2.84 kills per set.
 
"Eastern starts off being relentless with their defense," said Gooden. "I think they've become a lot more physical when they attack. For us, it's about being opportunistic. Eastern puts themselves in situations where they have long rallies, and they're able to win a majority of those. We feel like we're going to have to, like the Miami match, be in a lot of those long rallies and to be on the good side of them. It's what our league is."
 
Friday night's match at Eastern Michigan will be telecast on ESPN3.
 
--NIU--