DEKALB, Ill. – The Northern Illinois University volleyball team will open its 2018 season this weekend, hosting the NIU Invitational at Victor E. Court. The Huskies will take on DePaul at 7 p.m. on Friday, Aug. 24 before taking on Xavier on Saturday, Aug. 25 at 1 p.m. and Oklahoma at 7 p.m.
"The biggest thing for us this weekend is to come in as fresh, as healthy, and as ready as possible," said head coach
Ray Gooden, who begins his 17
th season at the helm of the Huskies. "We always think the first matches set the tone for the season, for we're going to do our best to continue on what we've been on for the last two-and-a-half weeks."
Yesterday the Mid-American Conference announced that senior middle blocker
Meg Wolowicz (Manitowoc, Wis./Manitowoc, Wis.) was named to the Preseason West All-MAC team. Wolowicz is the Huskies' top returning offensive player from a year ago, leading NIU with a .257 hitting percentage while being second on the team with 2.55 kills per set. She also led NIU with 110 total blocks.
"She has the focus, the drive, and the desire to be the best she possibly can be in her last season as a Huskie," said Gooden.
Wolowicz is just one of four upperclassmen on this year's roster. There are seven newcomers on the roster, including two transfers in outside hitter
Amanda Rullan Vilanova (Bayamon, Puerto Rico/Academia Discipulos De Cristo) from Savannah State and setter
Amanda Krahl (Pearland, Texas/St. Agnes Academy) from Appalachian State. Sophomores such as
Jori Radtke (Buffalo Grove, Ill./Stevenson) and
Miranda Karlen (Evansville, Wis.) will be looked upon to have a greater role for NIU in 2018. Radtke had double-digit kills in six matches last year, leading NIU in kills in four of them. Karlen had eight double-digit digs matches in 2017 with a career-high 25 against Bowling Green.
DePaul comes to DeKalb under the leadership of new head coach Marie Zidek. Zidek played at NIU from 2002 to 2005, recording 2,938 assists for eighth all-time at NIU. She inherits a Blue Demons squad that won nine matches in 2017. Xavier was picked to finish sixth in the Big East in the preseason, and return nine letterwinners from 2017. Oklahoma was picked eighth in the Big 12 volleyball preseason poll.
"The goal for this year's schedule was to find as much balance as we could," Gooden said. "We wanted to find teams with different styles from different parts of the country. We feel we have a real solid one in our first go. DePaul will be a very challenging first match. Xavier has experience, and they have a real good offense that runs at a high level. Oklahoma has a new staff that's trying to put the pieces there together, and it looks like from their exhibition that those pieces are starting to fall in place. It'll be three really challenging matches this week, but three really fun ones for our tournament."
At all matches this weekend, NIU Athletics will be distributing NIU car flags and academic planners to all students in attendance. For Saturday night's match, NIU will host a student pre-game tailgate at 6 p.m. prior to the Huskies' match against Oklahoma. Students must show their One Card to receive free pizza, popcorn, and a drink while also meeting and greeting with Huskie student-athletes.
Single-match and season tickets for the 2018 NIU Volleyball season are on sale now through the NIU Athletics Ticket Office in the Convocation Center, online at NIUHuskies.com/tickets, and by calling 815-753-PACK (7225). See all the options and get your tickets today (
https://oss.ticketmaster.com/aps/northernillinois/EN/buy/browse). Day passes for Friday and Saturday of the NIU Invitational are available at a cost of $10 for adults and $5 for youth.
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