Women's Volleyball | August 26

DeKALB, IL – The Northern Illinois University volleyball team opens its 2021 fall season this weekend when it hosts Western Illinois, CSU Bakersfield and Air Force for the Huskie Invitational at Victor E. Court.
 
The Huskies open the season with a 10 a.m. match against the Leathernecks of Western Illinois Friday morning and will face Cal State Bakersfield on Friday night at 7 p.m. NIU will close the tournament with its first meeting against the Air Force Falcons on Saturday afternoon at 2 p.m.
 
The fall season starts nearly five months to the day since the non-traditional 2020 season wrapped up in March of this year. For the Huskies and head coach Ray Gooden, this current season could not come fast enough.
 
"Having competitive matches in the spring when we're normally doing a lot of teaching and training flipped what our season would normally look like," Gooden said. "We had some situations where we did some good things and could have turned a match or two to feel better about it. A lot of the players are returning now with that still in their minds and they want to do some things that they wanted to accomplish in the spring."
 
One thing that will help this team going forward this fall is a full non-conference slate. The Huskies went 8-14 in the spring against only Mid-American Conference competition. Gooden said the full non-conference will get his new-look Huskies a lot of experience for a tough conference slate.
 
"We get the opportunity to get more experience for all of our players. We have a corps of first-year players that I feel can do some good things here at NIU. As many opportunities as we can give our team against all different types of competition before we get into the MAC season is going to help us tremendously."
 
Gooden enters his 20^th season as head coach of the NIU volleyball team this fall. With 324 career wins, six MAC West division titles, three MAC Coach of the Year honors, three MAC regular season championships and three MAC tournament titles, Gooden is still thankful for the opportunity to lead the program.
 
"I have become more nostalgic with things, just because of the duration, but I'm still glad to have the opportunity to lead this team. To see the level of players we have on this team and the coaching staff, and the things we're trying to do and what NIU does for me and hopefully does for our kids, just the opportunity to keep coaching this team is a blessing and I'm very thankful for it."  
 
On the floor, the Huskies look to build on a successful spring at the net. NIU was fourth in the MAC in blocks with 2.23 per set, led by senior middle blocker Jasmine Kemp (DeKalb, Ill./DeKalb) who averaged 1.11 blocks per set. Kemp was fourth in the conference in blocks per set and had at least four blocks in a match 10 times in the spring.
 
NIU returns two of its top three hitters from a season ago in juniors Katie Jablonski (Elburn, Ill./Kaneland/New Hampshire) and Kaitlyn Bell (De Soto, Kan./De Soto). Jablonski led the Huskies with 2.91 kills per set in the spring and added 2.55 digs per set which were second on the team. Bell added 2.03 kills per set in the spring with six matches of double-digit kills.
 
The Huskies return a wealth of experience at the setter position in senior Grace Balensiefer (Lafayette, Ind./McCutcheon). The three-year starter averaged 9.77 assists per set and had 10 double-doubles this past spring. Redshirt-Senior libero Miranda Karlen (Evansville, Wis./Evansville) returns after missing the spring season due to injury. Karlen enters 2021 sixth on the NIU career digs list with 1,366.
 
"The experience we have coming back helps build cohesion and helps us focus on the task at hand," said Gooden. "All of us have a shared mission that helps put us in a much better spot."
 
"We hope we're really good at being a good team. We hope we are the best team in the Mid-American Conference, and that will come with results. Whether we're a fast-tempo offense, a good blocking defense, or good from the service line, we're hoping people see that not only do we bring energy to the fans, but the fans give us energy to make it that much better of an experience."
 
Season tickets for the 2021 volleyball season are available now for just $35. The Huskie Family Four Pack is also available which consists of four season tickets for $95, coming out to $22.50 per ticket. Season tickets allow fans to attend all matches during the opening tournament weekend. Tickets will be mobile and season ticket members can manage their tickets through their MyHuskies account.
 
Masks are required at all times for those in attendance at Victor E. Court unless eating or drinking. Beginning this fall, a clear bag policy has been instituted for both Huskie Stadium and the NIU Convocation Center. No large bags or purses will be permitted for NIU football, volleyball or men's and women's basketball games. Approved bags include one clear plastic 12"x12"x6" stadium bag or a one-gallon clear plastic storage bag or one clutch purse size 4.5"x6.5" or smaller.
 
Fans coming to this weekend's tournament can receive half-price hot dogs and popcorn and $3 beers at the concession stands. For Friday night's match, the first 100 Huskie Pups will receive a backpack.
 
Friday morning's match against Western Illinois will be streamed on NIUTube on NIUHuskies.com, the Huskie all-access channel. Subscriptions are available for purchase on a daily ($6.95), monthly ($10.95) or annual basis and provides access to all home NIU Athletics events streamed on the website for the purchase period.
 
NIU Volleyball will have seven matches broadcast on ESPN3 or ESPN+ this season. Friday night's match against CSU Bakersfield will be on ESPN+ with Saturday's match at Air Force on ESPN3. The following matches will also be broadcast on ESPN3/+ this season: Sept. 16 vs. Green Bay, Sept. 18 vs. Wisconsin, Oct. 1 vs. Eastern Michigan, Oct. 30 vs. Ohio and Nov. 12 vs. Buffalo. All other home matches will be on NIUTube.
 
--NIU--