Mission accomplished.

The NIU women’s volleyball team (14-8) set out to prove some things this weekend and did precisely that with two convincing North Star Conference victories.

On Friday, the Huskies, 5-1 in conference play, outplayed Wisconsin-Green Bay (0-3, 4-14) en route to a 15-4, 15-3, 15-10 win. NIU took charge against Marquette (1-4, 8-14) Saturday night and won 15-9, 14-16, 15-3, 15-2.

NIU head coach Pete Waite had been looking for a strong performance from his squad, and the Huskies did not disappoint the first-year head coach.

“We played much more intense and alert and had some clean passing this weekend,” Waite said. “Because it was Parents and Seniors Night (Saturday), the team had to deal with a lot of emotion. We had a little bit of a lapse, but we came back and the seniors made some good contributions.”

One senior who made her presence felt all weekend was All-Midwest candidate Cathy Holmes. Holmes strengthened her hold on the conference lead in hitting percentage with a .556 clip against Green Bay and a .600 kill percentage versus the Warriors. The 6-foot-1 senior from Wilton, Conn., had 24 kills, seven solo blocks and three serving aces for the weekend.

Junior outside hitter Anita Kesteris continued to serve well, leading the Huskies with nine aces on the weekend. Jamie Steenblock had eight kills and a .375 hitting percentage against Green Bay and had already killed nine against Marquette when she suffered a back injury that forced her to leave the match.

Marquette head coach Tat Shiely said she was impressed with the Huskies’ play.

“I always thought that NIU was the best team in the conference,” Shiely said. “This is probably the team to beat in the NSC.”