Women's Volleyball | September 1

DeKALB, IL – The Northern Illinois University volleyball team is back in action this week with a home-and-home series against the Eastern Illinois Panthers. The two teams will play at Eastern Illinois on Thursday night at 5 p.m., with the match being broadcast on ESPN+.
 
The two teams will face off at Victor E. Court on Saturday night at 6 p.m. Tickets are available at NIUHuskies.com/myhuskies or by calling the NIU Athletics Ticket Office at 815-753-PACK (7225). First Responders and active military can receive a free match ticket for Saturday night with a valid ID. The match will be broadcast 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 went 2-1 in last weekend's season-opening Huskie Invitaitonal at Victor E. Court. The Huskies defeated Western Illinois 3-1 last Friday before a 3-1 defeat to CSU Bakersfield that night. NIU rebounded on Saturday with a 3-0 sweep of Air Force. Junior outside hitter Katie Jablonski (Elburn, Ill./New Hampshire) led NIU with 3.45 kills and 0.82 aces per set. Jablonski had back-to-back double-doubles to open the season with 14 kills and 10 digs against the Leathernecks followed by a 14-kill, 15-dig performance against CSU Bakersfield.
 
Freshman middle blocker Charli Atiemo (Milford, Mich./Farmington Hills Mercy) had quite the start to her NIU career last weekend. Atiemo hit .417 for the three matches and averaged 2.6 kills and 0.8 blocks per set. In her first match as a Huskie, Atiemo put down nine kills and hit .615 with nine kills and two blocks. She hit .400 in NIU's win over Air Force last Saturday with five blocks. Through the first week of the season, Atiemo is second in the Mid-American Conference in hitting percentage.
 
NIU leads the all-time series against Eastern Illinois 21-9-1. This weekend is the first time the Huskies and Panthers meet on the volleyball court since 2000 when NIU won 3-1 in a tournament at Marquette. The Panthers are 3-0 on the young season after defeating IUPUI, Bellarmine and Chicago State in their home Panther Invitational last weekend. Senior outside hitter Danielle Allen leads Eastern Illinois with 3.55 kills per set.
 
--NIU--