DeKALB, Ill. – As the first day of the season-opening Huskie Invitational came to a close, the Northern Illinois University volleyball team went 1-1 against NJIT and South Dakota State. The Huskies stormed past NJIT in the opener and saw multiple career-highs broken, but the closer wasn't as friendly to NIU.

Game One | How it Happened: After UIC beat SDSU to kick things off, NIU cruised past NJIT three sets. The Huskies' 6-2 run midway through the first set helped them edge the Highlanders 25-22. Emily Dykes' (Winterville, N.C./Ayden-Grifton) four-straight aces in the second set gave the team energy prior to ending the affair on a 7-1 run. The third set wasn't as close as the previous two - the Huskies had no issues after a pair of 6-0 runs helped them sweep NJIT.

Game One | Notables: Katie Jablonski (Elburn, Ill./Kaneland) led the stamped tallying a game-high 17 kills and a career-high .438 hitting percentage. Ella Mihacevich (Brunswick, Ohio/Padua Franciscan) smashed her career-high in set assists with a staggering 37. Close behind Jablonski was Dykes with 27 swings and a quartet of blocks. Sammi Lockwood (Cary, Ill./Prairie Ridge) had three blocks while Francesca Bertucci (Chicago, Ill./De La Salle) posted a game-high 16 digs. The team bested the Highlanders in every statistical category, but most impressively, the Huskies had nearly double the number of kills after the conclusion of the match (25-29).

Despite losing to UIC earlier in the day, SDSU proved to be a challenging foe for the Huskies. NIU kept each set close, but lost in three to the Jackrabbits.

"I thought that both teams came in pretty energetic, pretty fired up to play," said Head Coach Ray Gooden. "South Dakota State really wanted to try to push it today, and credit to them for playing consistent enough volleyball to be able to pull that one out. I thought that in moments, we were in a pretty good place. We just weren't able to turn some of the key plays to help us get over the hump,"

Game Two | How it Happened: After taking off on a 3-0 lead, NIU was staggered by 7-1 run from SDSU. NIU had three more swings than SDSU in the first set, but the Jackrabbits' .234 hitting percentage helped them win set one 25-20. The final two sets were neck-and-neck as they both went past 25 points, but in the end, SDSU finished both on top.

Game Two | Notables: Charli Atiemo (Milford, Mich./Farmington Hills Mercy) was a force at the net with three blocks and a .438 hitting percentage. Dykes and Jablonski had nine kills each to lead NIU while Mihacevich had 27 set assists.

NIU will conclude the Huskie Invitational tomorrow at 2 p.m. when they square off against UIC on ESPN+. SDSU and NJIT will open play at noon.

"We still have a chance to end this with a share of the weekend. UIC is really good. They're fast. They're experienced. We have to play our best level of the weekend against arguably the best team here. If we can do that and defend home court, we're going to end on a positive note, but it's going to take everybody on our team to do that."