DeKALB – The one-win NIU volleyball team, back from a two-day spell on the East Coast, has set their sights on success in the Windy City.
NIU will play its third out-of-conference tournament of the season – and second on the road – at the DePaul Invitational hosted by the DePaul University Blue Demons. Competition will commence earlier than usual for the Huskies, who will begin playing matches Thursday as opposed to the usual Friday start.
The Huskies’ stint at the DePaul Invitational will feature matchups against three teams from the Midwest: DePaul, University of Evansville and University of St. Thomas.
“It’s just another opportunity to get better,” said NIU volleyball head coach Sondra Parys. “We’re really focusing on conference play and taking each match as an opportunity to learn from the one before.”
Parys also noted the strides of improvement her squad has made between outings.
“I thought we got better from week one to week two, and that’s really the main goal is just to just keep getting better,” Parys said.
GOING IN FOR THE KILLS
Fresh off a 267-dig performance over the past weekend, Parys said the team’s emphasis has shifted towards boosting offensive production.
“We dug a lot of balls this weekend and we aren’t getting in enough kills, so we’re finding ways to be more terminal this week,” Parys said.
NIU accounted for 158 kills (11.29 kills per set) in its past three matches while its opponents notched 171 kills (12.21 kills per set.).
IN-STATE CONTEST AND AN OVERSEAS REUNION
While Saint Thomas and Evansville will be new additions to the Huskies’ list of opponents faced, NIU and DePaul are no strangers to one another.
The two Illinois-based schools have faced off 33 times since 1973. NIU leads the all-time series 22-11. DePaul prevailed in the teams’ last meeting on Aug. 24, 2018, in a 3-2 decision.
Throughout NIU’s Thursday night battle with DePaul, sophomore outside hitter Nazli Güvener will be on the opposite sideline of one of her former teammates, DePaul freshman outside hitter Yagmur Yavuz. Both players served as outside spikers for the Turkish National Team that won the 2019 CEV U16 Volleyball European Championship.
A TRIP TO THE CITY
NIU is set to play DePaul to kick off the tournament at 7 p.m. Thursday. That match will be the 2023 home opener for the Blue Demons. The Huskies will then have a test against Evansville at 4 p.m. Friday before closing their stretch against St. Thomas at noon Saturday.
All matches of the tournament will be held at McGrath-Phillips Arena in Chicago. Thursday’s match will be available to watch on FloSports. Live statistics can be accessed on StatBroadcast.
