DEKALB, Ill. – The NIU softball team makes its first home appearance of the season as the Huskies host Buffalo in the first weekend of conference play, highlighting the week in Huskie Athletics. 

Baseball
Friday, March 13: at Toledo, 2 p.m. – Live Stats
Saturday, March 14: at Toledo, 12 p.m. – Live Stats
Sunday, March 15: at Toledo, 12 p.m. – Live Stats

NIU Baseball wraps up its season-opening stretch of road games this weekend with a MAC series at Toledo. The Huskies opened conference play last weekend, taking two out of three games at Ohio. At 9-5 the Huskies are off to their best start since 1982. NIU outscored the Bobcats 21-3 in its two wins. Senior Caden Robertson was named the MAC Player of the Week on Monday after hitting .438 with four home runs and 11 RBI. He has hit a home run in four straight games and leads the MAC with 22 RBI and an .894 slugging percentage. Danny Cihocki leads all MAC pitchers with 28 strikeouts and is second with a 1.38 ERA. He has allowed one run in each of his first four starts this season. Toledo swept its series against UMass last weekend and is 6-8 on the year. NIU last won a series against Toledo in 2019.

Softball
Friday, March 13: vs. Buffalo (DH), 4 p.m. and 6 p.m. – Live Video Game 1 | Live Video Game 2 | Live Stats
Saturday, March 14: vs. Buffalo, 1 p.m. – Live Video | Live Stats

The NIU softball team will open the home portion of their season as they take on Buffalo this weekend in a three-game series. NIU will play two of their first three conference series at Mary M. Bell Field. NIU won last year's series by taking two of three games, highlighted by a pair of records, a team mark with 20 RBIs and an individual record from Jenna Turner with five runs scored in a single game. The Huskies hold the series lead 32-18 in the final conference meeting between the schools.
 
Through twelve games this season, the Huskies are an even 6-6 on the year. Most recently, they posted a 7-1 victory over Green Bay at the Boilermaker Spring Classic. NIU went 2-2 on the weekend, with their other win coming over St. Bonaventure (13-2, 5 innings). At the plate, Danielle Stewart leads the team with an average of .441 and is joined by Turner with 15 hits. Turner is averaging .375 at the plate as four other Huskies are .333 or above on the year. Stewart has scored 13 runs while Mia Morera has 12 RBIs on the year. 

Gymnastics
Sunday, March 15: at Minnesota, 2 p.m. – B1G+ ($) | Live Scoring

NIU gymnastics has its regular season finale this weekend, traveling to Minneapolis, Minn. for a Sunday afternoon quad meet against No. 20 Iowa, Illinois and No. 13 Minnesota. The Huskies competed in the Iowa quad meet last Friday, finishing with their third-best team score of the season with 193.300. 

NIU was led in the meet by Mikayla Brown and Dawsyn Sallee. Brown tied for third on beam with a 9.825 while finishing on floor with a 9.775 and on vault with a 9.725. Sallee tied for fifth on vault with a 9.825. The junior has scored a 9.700 or higher on vault in all 10 meets this season and scored at least 9.800 in five.

Men's Golf
Friday-Sunday, March 13-15: at Schenkel Invitational (Statesboro, Ga.) – Live Scoring

The Huskies play their second tournament of the spring this weekend at Georgia Southern's Schenkel Invitational. NIU tied for third at the Lake Las Vegas Invitational two weeks ago with a 54-hole team score of 17-under par 847. That was the fourth-lowest team score in a tournament since 1980. Sophomore Conner McCall tied for sixth with a career-best seven-under par 209. He had his best single round in the final round with a 67 and was named the MAC Golfer of the Week. 

Women's Golf
Saturday-Sunday, March 14-15: at Valspar Invitational (Augusta, Ga.)

The Huskie women's golf team returns to action this weekend as they compete at the Valspar Invitational in Augusta, Georgia. The Huskies will compete at the Forest Hills Golf Club in a field of 17 schools and are joined by fellow midwestern schools, Illinois State, Indiana, Minnesota, and Missouri.
 
The Huskies were last in action as they competed at the GCU Invitational in late February, taking second as a team. Sophomore Mia Raines led the team with a third place finish as she shot a season-best 69 in the opening round before going three under par with five birdies. Raines added five birdies in the second round and carded three in the final round as she had her best finish this season. NIU hit under 300 in all three rounds with two additional Huskies recording top-15 finishes in the field. 

Men's Tennis
Thursday, March 12: at Western Michigan, 12 p.m. 
Saturday, March 14: at Ball State, 12 p.m.
Monday, March 16: vs. Drake, 11 a.m.

The Huskies will play five matches in three days, beginning with road MAC battles on Thursday and Saturday then hosting Drake on Monday. NIU (10-3) opened conference play last Saturday with a 5-2 win over UIC. 

Iker Gaztambide Arrastia recorded his third MAC Singles Player of the Week honor of the season following a 2-0 weekend that included a top 25 upset win over Illinois. The senior is 10-1 in singles play this season. 

Western Michigan (8-8, 1-1) and Ball State (5-7, 0-1) each made the conference tournament last year with Western Michigan finishing runner-up to Buffalo. Drake (12-2) has won 12 straight with its only losses to Memphis and Nebraska. 

Women's Tennis
Friday, March 13: at Eastern Michigan, 12 p.m. - Live Stats
Sunday, March 15: at Toledo, 12 p.m. - Live Stats

NIU begins conference play this weekend after closing its non-conference slate at 14-3. The Huskies are winners of nine of their last 10 after securing a pair of wins on Sunday over UIC and Wisconsin-Whitewater. 

Malika Kabdesh and Nataly Ninova received MAC Doubles Team of the Week after a 2-0 weekend at No. 1 doubles. The duo is 8-4 this dual season. Rebeca Garcia Miralles has won 10 straight matches, the longest streak from NIU this season. 

Eastern Michigan (9-5) finished second in the MAC West Division behind NIU last season while Toledo (5-6) finished second in the East Division. Both Eastern Michigan and Toledo have dropped each of their two matches and will play their first conference matches this weekend.