DEKALB, Ill. – The Northern Illinois University volleyball team continues its season-opening seven-match homestand Tuesday night when the Milwaukee Panthers come to Victor E. Court for a 6 p.m. match.
 
"A lot of times with younger teams, we try to frontload a lot of matches to get experience," said head coach Ray Gooden. "That means a lot of baptism by fire, but I think we need that to understand all the situations we're going to see. We played against three teams that, over time, learned more about us to play against us. With each match, we're learning more about ourselves and how to gel together as a unit."
 
Despite going 0-3 last weekend in the NIU Invitational, the Huskies took at least a set in all three matches. NIU went five sets in the season-opener against DePaul, fighting off four match points in the fifth set before falling 15-13. The Huskies front row defense was a bright spot, racking up 30 blocks in the three matches with 15 against DePaul and 10 against Oklahoma.
 
"There are times when we can do some positive things," said head coach Ray Gooden on NIU's weekend in the NIU Invitational. "I thought we put ourselves in a position to find levels of success. The biggest thing for us right now is understanding that there's a little bit more that we need to get over the hump. Once we're able to get over the hump, we can then take the next step to being more consistent."
 
Senior middle blocker Meg Wolowicz (Manitowoc, Wis./Manitowoc Lincoln) was named to the NIU Invitational All-Tournament Team Saturday night. Wolowicz led the Huskies with 3.77 kills per set and a .240 hitting percentage. She had a career-high 24 kills against Xavier last Saturday, and added another career high with nine digs against Oklahoma.
 
A pair of freshmen made an impact in their first action at Victor E. Court. Setter Grace Balensiefer (Lafayette, Ind./McCutcheon) had 30 assists in the season opener against DePaul. She followed up that effort with her first career double-double of 28 assists and 11 digs against Xavier. Jasmine Kemp (DeKalb, Ill./DeKalb) led NIU with 14 blocks over the weekend. She had seven blocks in last Saturday's match against Oklahoma. On Friday night against DePaul, Kemp had six kills and five blocks while hitting .545 with no errors.
 
Milwaukee comes into Tuesday's match with an 0-3 record after losses to New Hampshire, South Dakota, and Northwestern in its Panther Invitational. Outside Hitter Shari Volpis led the Panthers with 18 kills on the weekend as Kylie Wilks added 17. Milwaukee was picked to finish seventh in the Horizon League this season behind Northern Kentucky, who NIU will face Saturday night.

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