Women's Volleyball | November 4
DeKALB, Ill.—Beginning an action-packed week at home, the Northern Illinois University Huskies volleyball team (3-20, 1-12 MAC) will host the Broncos of Western Michigan University (13-11, 9-4 MAC) on Tuesday night (Nov. 5) .
Action between the Huskies and Broncos will start at 6 p.m. inside Victor E. Court on the campus of NIU.
Tickets can be purchased here or by calling the NIU Athletics Ticket Office at 815-753-PACK (7225). Calls received outside of business hours (Monday-Friday, 9 am-5 pm CT) will be returned the next business day.
Previewing the Broncos
Since the meeting with the Huskies earlier this season, the Broncos are on a five-game winning streak, which includes sweeps over Toledo. With the win over the Huskies in October, Western Michigan holds a 35-40 series lead over NIU.
At the net, Keona Salesman leads the team with 3.22 kills per set (264 kills this season). Julia Marr is averaging 3.04 kills per set for a total of 206 kills this season to round out the top two for WMU. Three additional Broncos are averaging two or more kills per set this season as the team averages 13.65 kills per set.
Reeghan Boyer leads the team with 26 service aces and is joined by Elana Erickson with 24 aces.
Andelyn Simkins leads the defensive efforts for the Broncos with 4.82 digs per set.
Last Time vs Western Michigan
This will be the second meeting between the teams this year as the teams met on October 18 in Kalamazoo. The Broncos swept the Huskies in straight sets with scores of 19-25, 15-25, and 19-25.
Ava Grevengoed (Shorewood, Ill./Joliet West) led all players on the court with 11 kills while
Sarah Lezon (Indianapolis, Ind./Roncalli) marked her third game with three service aces.
Lezon recorded her sixth game during the 2024 season with multiple aces against the Broncos. Lezon had an ace in each of the sets and was the only Huskie to record an ace in the match.
Milestone Watch
Inching ever closer to a milestone,
Charli Atiemo (Milford, Mich./Farmington Hills Mercy) is 9 kills away from passing the 1,000-career kill mark.
With 13 double-digit kill games this season, Atiemo is on track to reach the 1,000-career kill mark.
If Atiemo surpasses the 1,000 mark this season, she would become the 23rd Huskie to reach that milestone.
In the November 1 game against Buffalo,
Ella Strausberger (Plainfield, Ill./Plainfield) recorded 14 assists to surpass the 500-career assist mark. Strausberger now sits with 518 assists with five games remaining during her debut season.
Huskie Leaders
Nazli Güvener (Ankara, Turkey/Elvankent Sinar), Atiemo, and Grevengoed lead the Huskies on the offensive side of the net.
Güvener leads all Huskies with 2.92 kills per set, for a total of 222 kills this season.
Grevengoed's 241 kills to lead the Huskies as she averages 2.77 per set. Atiemo rounds out the top-3 with 2.61 kills per set and 230 kills this season.
Rylea Alvin (Randoph, Wis./Randolph) is leading the Huskies with .73 blocks per set and leads the team with 58 total blocks this season.
Crew Hoffmeier leads the MAC and the Huskies in digs and digs per set and is in the top-35 in the nation for both. Hoffmeier is averaging 4.86 digs per set with a total of 428 digs this season.
