DEKALB, Ill. – The Northern Illinois University volleyball team will play its first of four-straight weekends away from home as it travels to Davidson's Wildcat Classic on Friday and Saturday. The Huskies will open the tournament on Friday, Sept. 1, against UNC Wilmington at 3 p.m. CT before facing host Davidson at 11 a.m. CT and Queens at 2:30 p.m. CT on Saturday, Sept. 2. 

Each of NIU's three opponents this weekend are foes that the Huskies have never met in program history. 

"Our focus has been defensive this week," said NIU head coach Sondra Parys. "We took a step back so we could go three steps forward. We broke some things down and were maybe a little slower this week, but very intentional about things we needed to get better at. 

"Three teams the program has never played, but I used to coach at Queens and Davidson was in the Atlantic 10, so I'm familiar with both of those programs, and my staff knows (UNC) Wilmington a little bit. We are excited and think it will be a good opportunity for us to keep getting better."

Friday's opponent, UNC Wilmington, went 1-2 on the opening weekend of the season, topping Presbyterian while falling to Fordham and Stetson. Caitlyn Callahan led the Seahawks with 2.67 kills per set while Charlotte Cronister averaged 4.0 digs per set.

Davidson made a perfect 3-0 start to the season, picking up victories over Le Moyne, College of Charleston and West Virginia. Last year, the Wildcats posted a 23-11 record and reached the semifinals of the National Invitational Volleyball Championship. Davidson fell twice to Parys' Loyola Chicago team in Atlantic 10 play in 2022. 

Queens opened the season going 1-2 at Morehead State's Eagle Challenge. The Royals topped Stonehill while falling to USC Upstate and host Morehead State. Prior to her time as an assistant at Loyola, Parys spent two years as an assistant coach at Queens (2016-17). 

Nikolette Nedic (Willowbrook, Ill./Hinsdale Central) recorded 44 kills on the opening weekend of the season to lead the Huskies, Crew Hoffmeier (Louisville, Ky./Assumption) tallied 48 digs while Charli Atiemo (Milford, Mich./Farmington Hills Mercy) had a team-best 12 blocks. 

This weekend's trip to North Carolina begins an 11-match swing away from DeKalb for the Huskies, which will also see NIU visit DePaul, Northern Iowa and Bowling Green before returning home at the end of September. The tournament at Davidson represents NIU's first trip to the State of North Carolina since the 2010 season, when NIU swept three matches at the Elon Classic. 

Next weekend, the Huskies will return to action in Chicago at the DePaul Invitational. NIU will face host DePaul on Thursday, Sept. 7, Evansville on Friday, Sept. 8 and St. Thomas on Saturday, Sept. 9.