DEKALB, Ill. – The Northern Illinois University women's tennis team continues Mid-American Conference play when it travels to Kalamzoo, Mich. to face Western Michigan Friday.

Following Friday's match with the Broncos, NIU (5-11, 0-2) will head to Toledo to take on the Rockets.

"We're pretty positive," said NIU head coach Tanya Mahefu. "We lost to Miami, but if you look at the results, we were pretty competitive against them. We did well against both teams last year, but they are much improved. It's going to be tough playing these teams on the road, but the girls are excited."

Brodie Walker (Bristol, England/Bristol Grammar School) was solid for NIU at No. 5 singles last weekend. The huskie sophomore was a perfect 2-0 last week, defeating Vanesa Pardo of Bowling Green in three sets before closing out the weekend with a straight set win over Miami's Anastasia Vasiukhina.

Freshman Lara Slikso (Essendon, Australia/St. Columba's College) has shown improvement since the beginning of conference. She pushed both of her matches to three sets last weekend at No. 6 singles, however, lost them both.

"Compared to last year, we were so top heavy," Mahefu said. "Now I feel the girls at the bottom of the line up are getting up there.

"They're all confident. They're excited. I'm hoping they have a great weekend."

Fans can get updates from the matches this week via Twitter through @niuwomenstennis.

-NIU-