Two key matches, one home and one away, serve as the focal point for this week’s NIU wrestling agenda.

The Huskies make their home debut Friday in a rescheduled match with the University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point. The Chick Evans Field House meeting was originally set for 7:30 p.m., but has moved to a high noon showdown due to a facility conflict.

NIU is offering free hot dogs to the first 100 spectators with serving starting at 11.45 a.m.

NIU will then head to Evanston Saturday for an 11 a.m. match with Big Ten power and 1990 NCAA fourth-place finisher Northwestern University.

“Hopefully, we have a little better balanced lineup than (UW-) Stevens Point, especially with a regular lineup in place. And we’ll need everyone at their best on Saturday. I think we match Northwestern in terms of strengths, but they have more experience from top to bottom in their lineup,” NIU coach Ed Vatch said.

The Huskies hope to be bolstered by the return of 158-pounder T.C. Dantzler and 150-pounder Rich Bielik. Knee injuries kept both wrestlers off the mat for the Drake University/Hawkeye Tours Classic, where NIU finished fourth with a 2-3 ledger.