DEKALB, Ill. – The Northern Illinois University volleyball team wraps up its non-conference slate this weekend at the WKU Tournament, hosted by Western Kentucky. The Huskies will take on #22 Washington State and East Tennessee State on Friday, Sept. 14 and take on the Lady Toppers on Saturday, Sept. 15.
 
The Huskies are coming off two close defeats at home this week in four sets to Chicago State and five sets to Southeast Missouri State. NIU rallied from two sets down to force a fifth against the Redhawks Wednesday night and had a chance to win the match before falling 16-14. In 12 matches so far in 2018, the Huskies have played 26 sets decided by four points or less.  
 
"We're put ourselves in spots to do some things, and we have to keep remembering to keep putting ourselves in positions to win," said head coach Ray Gooden.
 
Meg Wolowicz (Manitowoc, Wis./Manitowoc Lincoln) had a career-high 30 kills against Chicago State on Tuesday, hitting .352 for the match. She then had 22 kills against Southeast Missouri on Wednesday night. In her last six matches, Wolowicz has averaged 4.52 kills per set and is now second in the Mid-American Conference in kills with 4.02 per set.
 
"For her, with every experience, she gets a little more understanding of how to play the outside," Gooden said. "Everything makes more sense with every match she plays. It's great to have someone who can win points at key times, but she works hard on all facets of the game to make her a complete player."
 
Jori Radtke (Buffalo Grove, Ill./Stevenson) is now sixth in the MAC in kills at 3.09 per set after totaling 30 in the two midweek matches. The sophomore outside hitter had a double-double in both home matches this week, including a new career-high 22 digs with 13 kills on Wednesday against Southeast Missouri.
 
Freshman setter Grace Balensiefer (Lafayette, Ind./McCutcheon) set season-highs for assists in both matches this week. On Wednesday night, Balensiefer had 38 assists with 11 digs against Southeast Missouri. It was her fifth double-double in the last six matches. She has also had over 30 assists in three of the last four NIU matches.
 
The Huskies will face their first ranked opponent of the season Friday morning when they faceoff against the #22 Washington State Cougars at 10 a.m. Washington State is 7-0 on the year after sweeping its home tournament last weekend against McNeese State, Illinois State, and Stony Brook.  East Tennessee State won the Southern Conference last season and has started the year 9-2 after sweeping Appalachian State on Tuesday night. WKU won Conference USA last season and is 6-4 on the season. The Lady Toppers are a perfect 4-0 at E.A. Diddle Arena, defeating Chattanooga, Notre Dame, and Miami in the Holiday Inn-University Plaza Invitational last weekend.
 
"This is another challenging week on the road," Gooden said about the competition this weekend. "These are three challenging matches for us, but they'll be good tests for MAC play coming up."
 

--NIU--