Women's Volleyball | October 11
DEKALB, Ill.—Returning to Victor E. Court for homecoming, the Northern Illinois University Huskies volleyball squad (6-12, 4-2 MAC) are set to host the Eastern Michigan University Eagles (2-17, 0-7 MAC) this week. The Huskies and Eagles will face off on Thursday, Oct. 12 and Friday, Oct. 13 at 6 p.m. inside Victor E. Court. Friday's match is Alumni Night with past Huskie alums being recognized after the second set. The NIU volleyball squad will sign autographs post-match following Friday's match.
The Huskies have a 7-3 record during the homecoming weekend celebration with games played at home since the 2015 season. The Huskies faced Eastern Michigan during the 2021 homecoming celebration, splitting the series 1-1.
The Huskies split action in Ohio last week, falling to Ohio in four sets on Thursday, Oct. 5, before sweeping Kent State on Friday night.
Ella Mihacevich (Brunswick, Ohio/Padua Franciscan) recorded her fifth double-double of the season with 17 assists and 12 digs on Thursday night. Against Kent State on Friday night, the Huskies recorded their highest hitting percentage of the season (.439) as they recorded 48 kills and seven blocks in the contest.
The Huskies are sitting third in the MAC in hitting percentage at .222 and have a hitting percentage of .270 against MAC opponents. The Huskies have recorded 2,428 total attacks (fourth in the MAC) and 863 kills (sixth in the MAC).
Crew Hoffmeier (Louisville, KY/Assumption) is second in the MAC in digs, averaging 4.75 per set. Hoffmeier ranks 19th in the country in total digs this season (342) and 35th in the nation in digs per set. Charlie Atiemo (Milford, Mich./Farmington Hills Mercy) is second the MAC in total blocks this season at 64 and is second in the Mac in blocks per set, averaging .96 per set. Atiemo is in the top-10 in the MAC for hitting percentage, recording a .324 hitting percentage.
NIU leads the all-time series between the squads (40-29) and has a 22-11 record when playing in DeKalb. The Huskies and Eagles have gone a minimum of four sets in their last six meetings, with the Huskies having a 4-2 advantage.
Eastern Michigan has a 2-17 record overall and a 0-7 record in the MAC. The Eagles are looking for their first win in 11 games as the team has not won since early September. The Eagles have a hitting percentage of .150 and average 11.2 kills per set. Eastern Michigan is second in the MAC in digs per set, averaging 15.67. Callie Minshew averages 3.59 kills per set and is joined by Ava Siefke with 2.06 kills per set to lead the Eagles.
