Women's Volleyball | February 24

DeKALB, IL – The Northern Illinois University volleyball team looks to build on its current three-match winning streak this week when it hosts the Miami RedHawks at Victor E. Court for two matches on Thursday and Friday. Thursday's match is set for 4 p.m. with the series finale Friday at 6 p.m. on ESPN+.
 
NIU (4-6, 4-6 MAC) swept both matches last week in the series at Ball State, hitting a season-high .305 in the win last Friday. The Huskies offense has turned a corner over this current winning streak, averaging 16.3 kills per set with a .257 team hitting percentage. Three Huskies are averaging over three kills per set over the last three matches, led by senior Kennedy Wallace's (Kansas City, Kan./Piper) 3.7 kills per set and Kaitlyn Bell's (De Soto, Kan./De Soto) 3.6 kills per set.
 
The Huskies swept the Mid-American Conference's west division volleyball Player of the Week awards on Tuesday. Wallace was named MAC West Defensive Player of the Week for the first time in her career after averaging 1.33 blocks per set against Ball State. She hit .500 in the win on Feb. 19 with 13 kills. Bell earned Offensive Player of the Week honors for averaging 4.0 kills per set and hitting .365 in the series. In the win on Feb. 18 Bell tied a career-high with 16 kills with a career-high .536 hitting percentage and five blocks. Setter Grace Balensiefer (Lafayette, Ind./McCutcheon) earned her second career Setter of the Week award. The junior averaged 13.2 assists, 3.17 digs and 0.67 blocks per set in the Ball State series.
 
Miami (4-4, 4-4 MAC) split its series with Western Michigan last week at Millett Hall, winning 3-1 on Feb. 18. The RedHawks hit .240 as a team and held Western Michigan to .182 in the victory. Gaby Harper and Sarah Wojick each had 10 kills for Miami as the setting tandem of Morgan Seaman and Jennifer Schulze combined for 43 assists. Miami is third in the MAC in hitting percentage at .230.
 
Following this week's series, NIU continues it's four-match homestand March 4-5 against Akron.
 
--NIU--