“We blew the doors off both of them, to be blunt,” volleyball club president Rob Uhwat said about his team’s victories last weekend.

NIU defeated Quincy College 15-1, 15-5, 15-9 and Illinois 15-2, 15-5, 15-4 during Saturday’s triangular match at Illinois.

“We had real good passing and that threw off their defense,” Uhwat said. “They didn’t have the blocking, and they couldn’t adjust to our passing. This was definitely the best we’ve played all year.”

The NIU team, consisting of Uhwat, Dave Perkins, Kyle Perkins, John LaFaiver, Pete Vint, Tim Behland and Haze Avery, increased its record to 4-1.

Wisconsin was scheduled for a match with NIU this Saturday (April 8) but it has decided not to make the trip. That will leave NIU with a week to ready themselves for the Midwest Intercollegiate Volleyball Association Regional Championships, at Indiana-Purdue-Fort Wayne on April 14-15.

Due to foul weather conditions, last Thursday’s baseball game between NIU and North Central College was rained out.

The Huskies returned home on Saturday for a doubleheader with Lake Forest College. In the first game, NIU won 9-0, behind the pitching of Gary Sachs (8 strikeouts). In the nightcap, NIU again dominated with a 12-1 victory, with Chris Syco (8 Ks) picking up the victory.

“We had a lot of offense with few errors,” club co-president Mark Suhanek said. “This was the first time in five or six years that an NIU baseball team has played on campus. I think the people that came out to watch were impressed with what they saw.”

Sunday, the team traveled to Loyola for another doubleheader. The first game had the Huskies behind 9-4 heading into the fourth inning. In the top of the fourth, NIU rallied behind the play of Jim Streelman (.667 for the weekend), Russ Booker (.600) and Guy Massaro (.571, 1 HR, 8 RBI) to score eight runs.

Mike Osborne came in to pitch and struck out seven in a row to get the victory. The game was called after five innings due to rain, and the second game was also cancelled.

“Sunday was a big victory because we were ahead by a lot on Saturday,” Suhanek said, “and (on Sunday) we proved that we can come from behind to win.”

This weekend, NIU (3-0) will play five more games starting with a game at Rockford College on Friday. Tentatively scheduled for Saturday is another doubleheader with Loyola, on the field across from Stevenson South at 1 p.m. On Sunday, the club will travel to Wisconsin to take on Madison Tech in a doubleheader.