DeKALB — The volleyball team has a chance to improve its conference record Friday against the Ball State University Cardinals.

The Huskies split their opening two Mid-American Conference matches Friday against Central Michigan University in a  3-1 loss and Saturday against Eastern Michigan University in a 3-1 win.

While those matches were at home, the Huskies will have to travel over the next eight days playing Ball State, University of Toledo and Western Michigan University. 

“Ball State is a team like us,” Gooden said in the release. “They have depth, so you’ll get to see all the different types of lineups from them. They play really well at home. Toledo has a lot of consistency from last year’s group to this year. That’s going to be another tough match because they’re going to play better volleyball. We’re going to have to play really solid volleyball this weekend.”

Like NIU, the Cardinals split their opening two conference matches, defeating Toledo Sept. 26 and losing to the University of Akron Sept. 28.

Last season, NIU split the series with the Cardinals, winning in three sets at home Oct. 6. The Cardinals got their revenge on NIU Oct. 26, winning in three sets.

The match is set to start 6 p.m. Friday in Muncie, Indiana