After their last big win against Miami (OH), the NIU volleyball team will return to Victor E. Court once again this weekend to face off against the Central Michigan Chippewas and the Eastern Michigan Eagles.

Both teams are in the MAC conference, and both schools have higher standings than the Huskies at this point. However, past games indicate that the matches should be close, and claiming a victory will be possible for both sides.

The first match is against Central Michigan (10-4, 3-1 MAC), today at 7 p.m. Central Michigan was ranked just below NIU (7-10, 1-3) in the preseason poll. The Chippewas finished fourth while the Huskies finished third. In their two matches last year, each school was able to scrape a win as the visiting team.

Leading the Eagles offensively this season is junior outside hitter Lauren Krupsky. Last week Krupsky won the Mid-American Conference player of the week, after two spectacular performances against Ball State and Toledo, where she executed a combined 34 successful kills.
“Lauren Krupsky is one of the top players in the conference offensively,” said NIU head coach Ray Gooden.

Saturday night, the Eastern Michigan Eagles will take on the Huskies. The fact that the Eagles will be without the home court advantage could benefit the Huskies greatly, as their record for away games this season currently stands at 0-7. Despite these numbers, Gooden doesn’t think his team will be complacent.

“Eastern’s record does not reflect what they’re capable of doing,” Gooden said. “They won two out of their last three games. They’re getting more healthy and more experienced. We hope to put them under pressure.”

While its overall record at 3-17 stands much lower than NIU’s, EMU has earned itself a MAC record of 2-2. The team has started out fresh with this conference season, and has been working hard to keep the wins coming.

“I’m predicting they’ll be two very intense matches,” Gooden said. “Mainly because it’s going to be divisional matches for conference.”

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