If only the NIU volleyball team could pack away some of its radiating confidence and bring it back out at the end of the season, the Huskies would have a good shot at the North Star Conference crown.

The spikers, under coaching of new boss Pete Waite and his new assistant Lori Sowatsky, are aiming high in their season goals after sweeping their home opener Wednesday against the College of St. Francis.

“Our goal is to win the North Star Conference Tournament,” Waite said. “With a steady progression throughout the season, we should keep improving until we become a very strong and solid team at the end.”

Senior Cathy Holmes, who sparked a 15-9, 15-3, 15-7 triumph over the Saints with her 12 kills and six blocks, said she thinks the squad will have a promising season.

“I’m sure we’ll have a winning record coming off of (Wednesday’s) win,” Holmes said. “We were pretty confident going into (Wednesday’s) game, and we found out what we can do and what we need to work on.”

Holmes’ co-captain Amy Garrett said she is also excited about a possible winning season.

“Everybody’s up, and we’re all playing well,” Garrett said. “Now we’ve got one under our belt and sort of a base so we can go from there.”

However, Wednesday’s opener was not a toll for what’s ahead. CSF is a Division II squad. While it’s convenient for NIU to compete with teams in the lower division to build wins, it doesn’t help much in preparing the Huskies for the tougher upcoming games.

Following its’ road-game opener against Lewis University Sept. 7, the Huskies jump into the monotonous weekend schedule. The NIU Triangular, the first of two consecutive weekend home tournaments, starts Sept. 9-10 and hosts Kansas State and Mississippi.

The weekend of Sept. 16-17 is booked for the Huskie Invitational, which hosts Cincinnati, Eastern Illinois and Missouri.

Waite ranked the two home tourneys up with the NSC match and the Wisconsin (21-11 in 1987) game as far as the toughest matches at home.

As for the highlight match of the season, it seems the Huskies are eager for the trip to Normal. It’s not the anticipation of cruising through Morris, Ill. that’s building team anxieties, but rather the swapping of coaches that has taken place, and the overall rivalry between the two squads.

Waite left his assistant coaching position at Illinois State to take the head coaching job at NIU, while former NIU assistant coach Julie Mueller has taken Waite’s old job with the Redbirds.

“There’s a lot of ties to that match,” Waite said. “It’s always a big rivalry, and it will be a lot of fun for both players and coaches on both sides of the court.”

Waite said ISU will rank among the tougher road games along with Michigan State, Miami-Ohio and the two California games.

“The California teams are always harder to beat because they are always set up with tougher schedules,” Waite said, “but every team is going to be competitive from here on out.”