The Kansas State Wildcats and the Mississippi Lady Rebels will invade DeKalb to participate in the NIU Triangular volleyball tournament this weekend.

And NIU head volleyball coach Pete Waite put his Huskies through a rigorous four-hour practice Thursday as part of a process devised to instill more intensity on the team.

“The main thing we’re looking to improve upon from our Lewis match is to have some individuals on the court take charge and show strong leadership and desire.”

The focus of Thursday’s practice was to get back to the fundamentals rather than to design an offensive or defensive philosophy specifically aimed at this weekend’s foes.

“More than scouting other teams right now, we need to work on what we’re doing on our side of the net,” Waite said. “As soon as we’ve become more in control of our own game, we’ll look at other teams and change what we need to change at that time.

Kansas State and Mississippi will provide the Huskies with strong competition for the round-robin tournament scheduled to begin at 7 p.m. with NIU facing Kansas State.

The red-hot Wildcats, who hail from the Big Eight Conference, will bring a 3-0 season record into the tournament opener against NIU.

KSU Sports Information Director Kevin Klintworth said the three wins were against lesser opponents.

“This will be the best competition we’ve faced so far,” Klintworth said, referring to NIU and Mississippi.

The Wildcats feature a strong front line, including 5-foot-11 senior hitter Shawnee Call. Call is a two-time All-Big Eight award winner and a “legitimate All-America candidate,” Klintworth said.

“I dont know of anything that we’re not doing well as of this time,” Klintworth said.

He added that KSU has five returning starters from a team that broke 23 team records last year.

Mississippi, on the other hand, has not played a match so far this season. The Lady Rebels come into tournament play with six returning letterwinners from a team that posted a 15-20 record last season.

Mississippi will play KSU at 10:30 a.m. Saturday, and then will face the Huskies at 2 p.m.

The two teams with the best records will then play in the championship game at 7 p.m.